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BV  4510  .W42  1896 
Webb-Peploe,  H.  W.  1837- 

1923. 
The  life  of  privilege 


THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 


Northfield   Addresses 
••  ..  1895  ••  •• 

By  RBV.   ANDREW  MURRAY. 

The  Master's  Indwelling.  A  series  of  Ad- 
dresses at  the  Northfield  Bible  Conference, 
1895,  but  later  rewritten  and  revised  by  him 
for  this  permanent  and  authorized  publica- 
tion.    i2mo,  cloth,  75c. 


By  PREBENDARY   WEBB-PEPLOE. 

The  Victorious  Life;  the  Post-Conference  Ad- 
dresses delivered  at  East  Northfield,  Mass., 
August,  1895,  with  Introduction  by  Arthui 
T.  Pierson,  D.D.  i2mo,  cloth,  gilt  top, 
$1.25. 

Tlie  Life  of  Privilege;  or  Possession,  Peace 
and  Power,  being  the  report  of  Addresses  de- 
livered at  the  Northfield  Bible  Conference, 
1895,  with  Introduction  by  D.  L.  Moody. 
i2mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 


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New  York:  112  Fifth  Avenue. 
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THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

po60e60ion,  peace,  anb  power 


BY  THE 

REV.  H.  W.'WEBB-PEPLOE 

PREBENDARY  OF  ST.  PAUl's  CATHEDRAL,  LONDON 
INTRODUCTION  BY 

D.  L.  MOODY 

EDITED  BY 

DELAVAN  L.  PIERSON 


"Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God." 

"If  sons,  then  heirs  .  .  .joint  heirs  with  Jesus  Christ. 


FLEMING   H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature. 


Copyright,  1896, 
By  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company. 


INTRODUCTION 


These  addresses  by  Prebendary  Webb-Peploe,  given  before 
the  Northfield  Bible  Conference  last  August,  have  proved  of 
such  help  and  inspiration  to  so  many  Christians  that  I  am 
persuaded  their  mission  will  be  greatly  increased  in  this  perma- 
nent form. 

What  the  church  of  Christ  needs  now  is,  not  more  creeds 
or  articles  of  faith,  not  more  factions  or  reformations,  not  more 
eloquence  or  learning,  but  more  men  with  courage  and  wis- 
dom, who,  in  a  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  will  make  practical  ap- 
plications of  those  principles  which  the  church  accepts.  "  The 
great  mass  of  our  ministers  are  sound  enough  in  the  faith," 
said  Spurgeon,  "  but  not  sound  enough  in  the  way  they  preach 
it."  It  has  been  the  object  of  these  addresses  to  arouse  min- 
isters and  laymen  to  a  sense  of  their  privileges  and  responsi- 
bilities as  "  co-workers  with  Christ,"  and  to  call  them  to  sepa- 
ration from  the  hindrances  of  the  world. 

As  God  has  wonderfully  owned  these  heart-searching  mes- 
sages by  the  blessing  which  they  have  brought  to  many  of  us 
who  heard  them,  may  he  still  more  abundantly  bless  them  in 
their  present  form,  reaching  over  a  wider  area  and  calling  men 
and  women  everywhere  to  a  closer  hfe  with  Christ. 

D.  L.  Moody. 

East  Northfield, 

February  i,  1896. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Man's  Reasonable  Service 9 

The  Curse  of  Compromise 27 

The  Divine  Purpose 44 

The  Sin  of  Unbelief 59 

The  Only  True  Faith 71 

Trust 84 

Fellowship  with  Jesus 100 

True  Devotion 115 

Separation  and  Satisfaction 130 

The  Rest  of  God 142 

The  Peace  of  Christ 158 

Deliverance  and  Service 173 

One  Thing — All  Things 189 


THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 


MAN'S   REASONABLE   SERVICE 


AS   EXHIBITED    IN   THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE    ROMANS 


"  I  beseech  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that  ye 
present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is 
your  reasonable  service.  And  be  not  conformed  to  this  world :  but  be  ye 
transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is 
that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God." — Romans  xii.  i,  2. 

THESE  words  were  addressed  by  the  Apostle  Paul  to  all 
those  that  are  "beloved  of  God,  and  called  to  be  saints  " 
(Rom.  i.  7).  They  are  not,  therefore,  addressed  to  the  outside 
world,  but  to  those  who  have  special  reasons  for  being  devoted 
to  the  Lord's  service ;  to  persons  to  whom  the  Apostle  felt 
that  he  was  justified  in  making  this  peculiarly  solemn  and  all- 
pervading  appeal.  No  man  can  justifiably  make  an  appeal  for 
self-sacrifice  to  reasonable  people  without  giving  good  grounds 
for  such  an  appeal,  more  especially  when  it  may  involve  pecu- 
liar trials  and  suffering  for  those  on  whom  he  makes  the 
demand. 

The  Christians  to  whom  St.  Paul  was  writing  were  living 
under  the  government  of  Nero,  the  most  absolute  embodiment 
of  wickedness  that  could  be  found  in  the  position  of  an  auto- 

9 


10  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

crat;  and  when  St.  Paul  well  knew  that  those  believers  in 
Jesus  Christ  might  have  to  sacrifice  their  lives  at  a  moment's 
notice,  undergoing  the  most  exquisite  torture,  it  is  no  light 
appeal  that  he  makes  to  them  when  he  says,  "  I  beseech  you, 
brethren,  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice."  The 
Greek  word  TrapaoTTJaai,  to  "  present,"  or  "  offer  in  sacrifice," 
is  the  regular  term  for  the  act  of  the  priests  when  they  laid  the 
sacrifice  on  the  altar  before  God,*  If,  then,  it  was  only  right 
and  reasonable  for  the  Apostle  Paul  to  give  full  and  proper 
reasons  before  making  such  an  appeal  as  this  to  men  who  were 
for  the  most  part  slaves,  utterly  uneducated,  utterly  unsatisfied 
with  the  good  things  of  this  world,  and  Hving  in  the  days  of 
such  a  tyrant  as  Nero,  it  would  be  entirely  unjustifiable  and 
unreasonable  for  me  to  appeal  to  the  Christians  of  this  enlight- 
ened age  to  consecrate  themselves  wholly  to  the  business  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  give  up  much  that  is  considered  pleasant, 
satisfying,  and  delightful  in  this  world,  unless  I  could  show 
good  reasons  for  such  an  appeal  from  the  words  of  the  Apostle 
himself. 

But  we  /lave  good  grounds :  "  I  am  not  ashamed,"  says  St. 
Paul,  "  of  the  gospel  of  Christ :  it  is  the  power  of  God  to  every 
one  that  believeth ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek." 
It  is  equally  the  power  of  God  to  you  who  are  full  of  enlight- 
enment, scientific  knowledge,  and  earthly  opportunities ;  it  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation^  unto  cojisecratmi,  unto  pres- 
ent satisfaction,  and  unto  future  glo7'ification .  In  the  midst  of 
a  dangerous  age,  an  age  that  is  being  drawn  aside  on  one  hand 
by  so-called  philosophy,  on  another  hand  by  so-called  sci- 
entific advancement,  and  on  a  third  hand  by  the  so-called 

*  The  same  word  is  translated,  in  chapter  vi.  13,  19,  "  yield."  How 
happy  that  our  translators  should  have  found  the  two  terms  wherewith  to 
render  the  one  expression,  and  thus  to  make  the  appeal  so  strong  that  we 
should  be  compelled  by  the  very  love  of  God  to  yield,  to  offer  up,  and  to 
present  ourselves  to  him! 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  n 

delights  of  civilization— but  which  is,  after  all,  but  the  emas- 
culation of  manhood— in  the  midst  of  all  these  that  are  called 
earthly  blessings,  I  am  not  ashamed  to  appeal  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  this  generation,  and  to  say  that  I  have  a  right,  in  the 
name  of  God,  to  claim  your  bodies  and  your  spirits  wholly  for 
the  Lord. 

Alas !  the  body  seems  to  be  the  last  thing  that  men  will  give. 
They  talk  much  of  giving  their  spirits ;  they  talk  somewhat  of 
giving  their  souls ;  and  they  think  that  they  can  satisfy  God 
and  man  by  saying  that  they  present  their  spirits,  which  no 
man  can  lay  hold  of,  and  their  souls,  which  are  only  obser- 
vable in  their  outward  acts ;  but  they  refuse  to  give  their  bodies, 
for  the  most  part,  because  this  would  cost  them  something 
palpable ;  this  would  involve  what  even  men  call  "  self-sacri- 
fice." And  yet  we  have  a  right  to  demand — though,  like  the 
Apostle,  "  I  would  rather  beseech  you,  being  such  a  one  as  the 
servant  of  Christ "  (Philemon  9) ;  yes,  I  would  much  rather 
beseech  you  than  demand — "  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  liv- 
ing sacrifice  to  God."  The  body  offered  to  God  will  simply 
mean  this :  the  machinery  for  the  action  of  the  soul ;  and  the 
soul  will  only  be  offered  to  God  when  the  spirit  is  instinct  with 
the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  for  a  man  who 
is  not  born  of  the  Spirit  ever  to  offer  his  body  to  God  in  that 
way  in  which  alone  God  will  be  pleased  to  accept  it.  There 
must  be  soHd  ground,  then,  upon  which  to  stand  when  we  ask, 
as  a  visible  manifestation  of  your  devotion  to  God,  that  your 
body  (meaning  all  that  is  material,  all  that  is  involved  in  your 
earthly  existence)  be  offered  up  to  the  living  God  as  "your 
reasonable  service." 

What,  then,  are  the  grounds  on  which  such  an  appeal  can 
be  made  ?  St.  Paul,  as  in  almost  all  of  his  epistles,  here  com- 
mences his  appeal  for  a  practical  life  of  holiness  and  self-sacri- 
fice with  the  little  word  therefore.  It  is  with  him  the  turning- 
point  from  the  doctrinal  to  the  practical,  repeated  again  and 


12  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

again  in  this  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  (See  ii.  26 ;  iii.  28 ;  v. 
I,  etc.)  In  each  epistle  he  has  a  similar  turning-point.* 
Surely,  then,  in  this  eager,  vigorous  generation,  in  which  men 
say  that  they  have  but  httle  time  for  anything  which  is  non- 
essential, we  are  bound  to  give  good  grounds  for  our  demand 
that  they  so  sacrifice  everything  temporal  and  visible  to  the 
Lord.  If  we  can  do  this  the  responsibihty  will  rest  upon  them. 
When  the  gospel  is  preached  as  it  ought  to  be  there  is  always 
a  turning-point  from  the  doctrinal  to  the  experimental.  Meta- 
physical arguments  are  now  rather  the  fashion ;  yet  practical 
Christianity  is,  I  fear,  but  little  regarded  in  this  nineteenth 
century.  The  purport  of  all  gospel  preaching  in  our  day  must 
be  to  turn  the  doctrinal  into  the  experimental ;  to  compel  men 
to  see  that  though  they  may  be  perfectly  clear  upon  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  the  gospel,  it  is  vain  to  flatter  themselves  that 
these  will  be  effective,  either  for  their  own  souls  or  for  the 
world,  unless  they  turn  those  doctrines  into  practice,  cost  what 
it  may. 

The  Apostle  appeals  here,  in  the  twelfth  of  Romans,  to  the 
doctrines  which  he  has  been  exhibiting  in  the  first  eleven 
chapters  of  the  epistle.     "By  the  mercies  of  God,  I  appeal  to 

*  In  2  Corinthians  vii.  i,  he  says,  "  Having  therefore  these  promises, 
dearly  beloved,  let  us  cleanse  ourselves,"  etc.  To  the  Galatians  (v.  i)  he 
says,  "  Stand  fast  therefore  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us 
free."  To  the  Ephesians  (iv.  i)  he  M'rites,  "  I  therefore,  the  prisoner  of 
the  Lord,  beseech  you  that  ye  walk  worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye 
are  called."  In  Philippians,  in  the  opening  of  the  second  chapter,  "  If 
there  be  therefore  any  consolation  in  Christ,  if  any  comfort  of  love,  if  any 
fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  if  any  bowels  and  mercies,  fulfil  ye  my  joy,  that 
ye  be  like-minded,  having  the  same  love,  being  of  one  accord,  of  one 
mind."  (See  also  iv.  i.)  And  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  (iii.  i), 
"If  ye  then  [Greek,  therefore']  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things 
which  are  above."  Again,  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  (iv. 
I),  "  Furthermore  then  [Greek,  therefore]  we  beseech  you,  brethren,  and 
exhort  you  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  as  ye  have  received  of  us  how  ye  ought 
to  walk  and  to  please  God,  so  ye  would  abound  more  and  more." 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  13 

you,"  says  St.  Paul.  But  in  "  the  mercies  of  God  "  what  basis 
has  he  established  ?  At  the  outset  of  this  epistle  he  says  that 
he  is  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  because  he  consid- 
ers it  to  be  "the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
that  beHeveth  " ;  and  then,  notwithstanding  the  depravity  of 
his  day,  and  especially  of  the  capital  in  which  he  was  to  find 
his  readers,  he  tells  them  that  in  that  holy  gospel  there  is  given 
to  all  who  will  accept  it  "the  righteousness  of  God  which  is 
revealed  from  faith  to  faith :  as  it  is  written.  The  just  shall  hve 
by  faith."  In  three  different  epistles  St.  Paul  has  brought  in 
that  striking  expression,  "  The  just  shall  hve  by  faith."  Here 
it  is  used  in  its  most  elementary  sense— that  never  shall  any 
man  live  in  God's  sight  except  by  faith,  and  never  shall  any 
man  be  justified  except  by  faith. 

He  proceeds  to  exhibit  the  necessity  for  a  righteousness  which 
is  not  of  the  law,  but  of  God  and  by  faith  (i.  17-iii.  20).  He 
describes  the  Gentile  world  in  all  their  ghastly  sensuality  and 
degradation,  such  as  never,  perhaps,  could  have  entered  into 
our  enlightened  minds,  but  so  bad  that  a  Chinese  translator 
once  said  to  a  missionary,  when  he  had  brought  these  words 
from  Enghsh  into  Chinese,  "  Sir,  you  must  have  studied  the 
Chinese  nation  long  before  you  could  have  made  a  picture  so 
accurate  as  this."  The  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  full  not 
only  of  cruelty,  but  of  the  grossest  depravity  that  can  fall  upon 
man,  when  the  devil  is  working  in  his  fullest  power.  St.  Paul 
gives  us  this  picture  of  Rome  as  only  an  inspired  pen  could 
give  it.  Three  times  in  the  first  chapter  he  says  that  "  God 
gave  them  up  "  (vs.  24,  26,  28)  to  all  that  was  evil  and  destruc- 
tive. But  then  he  proceeds  (in  chapter  ii.)  to  say  that  it  is  not 
one  nation  or  another  that  is  to  be  found  in  this  terrible  condi- 
tion of  hopelessness,  for  that  the  Jew  is  as  bad  as  the  Roman, 
or  any  other  heathen  nation  (though  in  a  different  way) ;  and 
that  they  are  utterly  inexcusable,  because  that  "when  they 
knew  God,"  in  another  way  from  the  nations  of  the  heathen, 


14  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

"they  glorified  him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful,"  but 
gave  themselves  over  to  the  terrible  sin  of  self -righteousness. 

He  turns  in  the  third  chapter  to  exhibit  the  gross  depravity  of 
"  MAN  "  universally ;  and  from  the  first  verse  down  to  the  nine- 
teenth he  exhibits  man  in  detail,  quoting  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment to  prove  man's  absolute  and  ineradicable  wickedness  by 
nature.  He  takes  the  mouth,  the  lips,  the  eyes,  the  ears,  the 
throat,  the  tongue,  the  body,  and  the  members,  and  shows  that 
they  are  all  hopelessly  depraved  by  nature,  until  at  last  he 
brings  in  one  great  verdict  from  the  jury  of  common  sense  as 
well  as  from  revelation— "  Guilty  before  God."  If  "guilty 
before  God,"  it  is  impossible  (he  proceeds  to  say  in  the  twen- 
tieth verse)  for  the  law  to  bring  man  in  "just  before  God"; 
because  the  law  knows  nothing  but  absolute  perfection,  and 
"  whosoever,"  as  St.  James  says,  "  offends  in  one  point  is  guilty 
of  all."  Therefore  there  is  one  law  of  condemnation  against 
the  whole  human  race,  and  no  Jew  or  Gentile  can  excuse  him- 
self on  the  ground  that  he  either  lacked  opportunity  or  had 
done  his  best.  I  suppose  that  few  people  honestly  attempt  to 
argue  before  their  neighbors  (whether  or  not  they  imagine  that 
they  can  do  so  before  God)  that  "  they  have  done  theu:  best, 
and  that  God  ought  therefore  to  be  satisfied." 

No  such  argument  as  this  will  avail  before  God ;  but  there 
is  an  argument,  says  St.  Paul  (iii.  21  f.),  which  will  suffice  for 
even  the  most  depraved  and  helpless,  viz.,  that  God  has  pro- 
vided a  righteous7iess  which  is  without  law  (specially  dissevered 
from  law),  i.e.,  "the  righteousness  of  God  which  is  by  faith 
of  [inj  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that  believe." 
He  elaborates  this  righteousness  to  the  close  of  the  third  chap- 
ter, and  exhibits  the  wonderful  provisions  of  God  for  the  world 
in  Christ ;  so  that  none  need  be  lost,  none  need  despair,  but  all 
may  accept  an  absolute  righteousness  in  the  person  of  Another, 
if  they  are  willing  humbly  to  place  themselves  as  lost  before 
God,  and  to  accept  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  their  substitute. 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  15 

In  the  fourth  chapter  he  proceeds  to  show  that  this  accept- 
ance of  man  in  Another  is  really  the  foundation  of  the  Old 
Testament  revelation ;  for  even  Abraham  and  David,  the  two 
great  founders,  as  it  were,  of  two  different  revelations,  each 
found  that  there  was  no  acceptance  for  man  but  by  the  gift  of 
God  through  his  mercy  and  love ;  and  they  were  both  right 
glad  to  take  this  provision,  though  they  were  themselves  so 
holy  and  virtuous.  The  Apostle  closes  the  chapter  by  saying 
that  this  righteousness  by  faith  is  not  imputed  unto  them  alone, 
but  that  it  shall  be  imputed  unto  us  also  if  we  believe  ;  because 
Christ  was  delivered  for  our  offenses  as  well  as  for  theii's,  and 
was  raised  again  for  our  justification. 

Having  established  this  universal  idea  of  righteousness  by 
faith,  and  having  shown  that  there  can  be  no  other  for  man, 
the  Apostle  comes  to  the  first  great  turning-point  in  his  revela- 
tion of  the  goodness  of  God  contrasted  with  the  wickedness  of 
man.  From  this  point  there  are  no  less  than  seven  such  turn- 
ing-points in  his  argument  before  he  comes  to  the  words  of  my 
text.  Each  of  these  turning-points  closes  with  the  words, 
"  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  or  "  in  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  " ;  and  every  one  of  them  is  a  crucial  point  in  his  revela- 
tion of  what  he  entitles  "  the  mercies  of  God." 

What,  then,  is  the  Ji?'st  of  these  turning-points?  "There- 
fore," he  says  (v.  i),  ''being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace 
with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Is  it  so?  Is  this 
a  fact  in  our  own  personal  experience  ?  The  very  sound  of 
the  words  is  beautiful :  "  Peace  with  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  This  is  the  starting-point  of  all  blessing,  the 
opening  out  of  a  vista  of  "  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory," 
in  which  a  man  ought,  surely,  to  feel  that  to  be  appealed  to 
by  God  to  give  up  his  body  and  all  that  he  has  to  the  service 
of  the  Lord  is  not  a  constraint  of  mere  moral  compulsion,  not 
a  demand  that  drives  like  a  law,  but  a  very  joy  and  delight  to 
the  soul  of  the  redeemed  one.     ^'  Therefore  being  justified  by 


1 6  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

faith,  we  have  peace."  Look  well  into  these  words  in  the 
sunhght  of  God's  favor.  Then  look  out  humbly  into  the  bat-* 
tie  of  life  and  say  it,  in  your  wife's  face,  in  your  children's 
faces,  in  your  servants'  faces:  "We  have  peace  with  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  the  first  deduction,  the 
holy  deduction,  of  a  practical  man,  drawing  his  arguments 
first,  and  conclusions  afterward,  from  his  reflections  upon  the 
mercies  of  God. 

But  this  is  not  sufficient  for  St.  Paul.  He  proceeds,  second 
(v.  2-1 1 ),  to  give  a  summary  of  the  mercies  which  justification 
secures.  He  says.  We  have  access,  we  have  grace,  and  we 
have  standing  power  for  life ;  we  have  rejoicing  or  glorying 
in  the  presence  of  God ;  and  "  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  so  that  we  are  never 
ashamed ;  we  have  power  to  Hve  a  holy  hfe  when  we  are  saved 
by  Christ's  death ;  and  he  sums  up  our  blessings  by  saying, 
"  And  not  only  so,  but  we  also  joy  [we  make  our  boast,  we 
glory,  or  rejoice  (see  v.  2,  3)]  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  also  we  have  received  the  at-one-ment,"  or 
atonement. 

He  now  advances  to  a  third  stage.  He  has  shown  briefly 
what  "the  mercies  of  God"  are;  he  now  proceeds  to  elabo- 
rate them,  and  (v.  12-21)  depicts  the  universality  of  God's  pro- 
vision in  Christ ;  because  a  man  might  rise  up  and  say,  "  Alas ! 
the  mercies  of  God  are  exclusive ;  they  are  for  those  who  can 
prove  themselves  beloved  of  God,  and  called  to  be  saints 
(i.  7) ;  but  who  can  show  that  they  are  for  us  ?  "  "  Universal 
as  is  the  need,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  much  more  universal  is  the 
provision;"*  much  more  the  grace  of  God  prevails  over  the 
terrible  fall  of  man.  At  last  he  says,  "As  sin  hath  reigned 
unto  death,  so  grace  is  to  reign  through  righteousness  unto 
eternal  hfe  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

Once  again  the  poor  troubled  soul  speaks  and  says,  "  Yes, 

*  Notice  the  five  "  much  mores  "  of  this  chapter. 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  17 

it  is  universal  in  its  provision  in  the  intention  of  God,  and  I 
can  see  now  how,  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  there  is  dehverance 
from  the  wrath  of  God,  dehverance  from  the  penalty  of  sin. 
But  know  you,  O  writer,  the  power  of  sin  ?  Know  you  what 
it  is  to  be  caught  and  held  in  the  very  vise  and  grip  of  iniquity 
that  drags  men  down  to  the  terrible  experience  of  death— not 
only  to  the  penalty  which  comes  at  the  close  of  our  mortal  life, 
but  to  the  pain  and  the  agony  of  death,  on  account  of  the 
power  that  sin  exercises  upon  the  soul?"  Here  the  Apostle 
says  (vi.  i),  "  What  then?  If  there  is  a  provision  universal 
for  man's  need,  shall  this  encourage  iniquity  and  lead  us  to 
the  degraded  condition  of  death?     God  forbid !  " 

Oh,  have  we  all  heard  St.  Paul's  appeal  to  our  souls  in  its 
practical  power  for  every-day  life  ?  How  dare  you  live  in  sin, 
encouraging  faults  that  you  call  "small  infirmities"  or  "neces- 
sities," until  you  stand  before  the  world  a  very  scandal  to  the 
name  of  Christ  ?  Keep  to  the  doctrine  of  the  blood,  and  the 
blood  alone,  as  the  provision  of  God  for  the  needs  of  man  as 
a  sinner ;  but  for  God's  sake,  for  your  own  sake,  for  the  world's 
sake  around  you,  and  especially  for  your  own  family,  I  beseech 
you  remember  this :  that  to  make  that  an  encouragement  for 
sin,  however  small,  is  to  degrade  the  gospel,  to  lose  the  dignity 
of  your  manhood  in  Christ  as  nothing  else  can  really  dishonor 
it,  and  to  ruin  your  hopes  of  glory,  because  it  destroys  your 
power  in  this  world. 

The  Apostle  says,  "  We  were  buried  with  Him  by  baptism 
into  death :  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead 
by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in 
newness  of  hfe."  And  as  Christ  hath  "  died  unto  sin  once," 
and  done  with  it,  sin  and  death  have  "  no  more  dominion  over 
him;"  so  should  you  (here  is  Yii^  foiwth  conclusion)  "reckon 
yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God 
through  [Greek,  /;/]  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  You  have  been 
transferred  from  your  old  position  into  a  new  one.    You  are  now 


1 8  THE  LIFE   OF  PRIVILEGE 

risen  in  Him  who  is  all-victorious ;  you  are  risen  with  Him  who 
was  a  perfect  man  in  the  power  of  God ;  and  now  you  know 
no  such  thing  as  a  parley  with  sin,  because  you  need  know 
nothing  of  its  power.  You  have  done  with  sin,  judicially,  and 
the  translation  of  yourself  into  the  experimental  deliverance  is 
to  be  by  the  power  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost.  *'  Reckon  your- 
selves to  be  dead  [vEKpov^ — corpses]  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive 
unto  God  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

But  once  more  the  poor  troubled  soul  rises  before  the  Apos- 
tle's eye,  and,  making  reply  to  this,  says,  "Yes,  but  you  are 
addressing  slaves  [for  such  most  of  the  Christians  in  Rome 
were] ;  you  are  addressing  men  who  know  what  bondage  is ; 
and  while  it  is  blessed  to  be  delivered  from  the  penalty  of  sin, 
there  stands  the  old  taskmaster  before  his  former  slave  and 
says,  '  You  are  mine  ;  I  claim  you.'  How,  then,  are  we  to  be 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption ;  from  the  power  of 
evil  that  comes  to  us  and  claims  us  as  its  slaves?  We  hate  it, 
but  it  holds  us." 

In  answer  to  this  the  Apostle  says  (vi.  12-23),  "There  is 
deliverance  from  the  taskmaster  quite  as  much  as  from  punish- 
ment." He  says  in  the  seventh  chapter,  "  You  are  no  longer, 
in  any  sense,  bound  to  the  old  master,  for  you  are  set  free 
through  death.  Being  set  free,  you  become  [dovAoi]  slaves  to 
God,  not  by  law,  but  by  love ;  not  by  necessity,  but  by  the 
compulsion  of  tender  joy.  You  can  serve  now,  as  free  men, 
out  of  gratitude  and  devotion.  When  the  old  master  rises  up 
and  claims  authority,  refer  him  to  the  new ;  refer  him  to  the 
One  who  has  taught  you  your  liberty  and  has  made  you  his 
own  by  the  costly  purchase  of  his  hfe.  Seek  to  realize  in  all 
its  blessed  force  the  spiritual  power  of  those  blessed  words, 
'  The  wages  of  sin  [as  the  old  taskmaster]  is  death ;  but  the  gift 
of  God  is  eternal  life  through  [or  in]  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord ' " 
(vi.  23).     This  is  ihtjifth  of  the  Apostle's  conclusions. 

But  once  again,  though  set  free  from  sin  in  its  guilt,  penalty. 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  19 

State,  and  slavery— all  of  which  involve  that  terrible  word 
death — there  rises  up  before  the  poor  soul's  eye  the  law  of 
God— not  the  law  of  man,  but  the  law  of  God— and  that  law  of 
God  says  that  you  are  bound  to  it  as  a  wife  is  bound  to  her  hus- 
band, and  that  it  holds  you  with  its  terrible  power  to  be  respon- 
sible to  it  in  every  detail.  How  can  any  man  answer  to  the 
law  as  to  the  husband  who  claims  an  absolute  self-abnegation  ? 
The  law  brings  the  consciousness  of  sin,  a  sense  of  failure,  and, 
at  last,  the  hopelessness  of  despair. 

I  cannot  enter  into  the  beautiful  arguments  of  the  seventh 
chapter.  It  must  suffice  to  remind  you  that  in  that  chapter 
there  is  no  presence  of  Christ  (except  in  vs.  5  and  25)  or  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  or  of  grace,  but  that  from  the  fourteenth  verse 
to  the  end  the  words  /and  fne  occur  no  less  than  thirty-three 
times.  It  is  all  man ;  man  striving  to  do  his  duty,  man  striv- 
ing to  satisfy  himself  by  works,  etc.  Scholars  have  dehghted 
to  hold  metaphysical  discussion  on  this  seventh  chapter.  Let 
us  rather  take  the  practical  view.  It  describes  a  man,  whoever 
he  may  be,  converted  or  unconverted,  trying  to  serve  God  as 
a  wife  may  serve  a  hard  and  unbending  husband  who  is  like 
a  bitter  master  to  her,  lawfully  her  master,  but  never  ceasing 
from  his  inflictions  of  pain  upon  her.  There  is  a  sense  of 
failure  until  there  comes  that  absolute  despair  which  Paul 
paints  in  the  twenty-fourth  verse :  "  O  wretched  man  that  I 
am!  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?" 
Then  once  again  he  shows  the  beautiful  provision  of  the  gos- 
pel :  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  This  is 
the  sixth  of  St.  Paul's  conclusions.  In  the  fourteenth  verse  he 
says,  "We  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual;"  in  the  sixteenth 
verse,  "I  consent  unto  the  law;"  in  the  twenty-second,  "I 
delight  in  the  law  ;"  but  when  he  comes  to  the  last  verse  of  the 
chapter  he  says,  "  I  serve  the  law  now."  O  blessed  advance! 
He  can  serve  the  law  now,  because  he  is  delivered  and  delights 
in  his  new  Lord. 


20  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

Then  in  the  eighth  chapter  the  Apostle  leads  us  forth  into 
the  grand  attractions,  the  holy  joy,  and  the  splendid  inheri- 
tances which  attach  to  us  as  children  of  God  in  and  through 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  How 
shall  he  sum  up  those  glorious  mercies  of  God?  He  begins 
with  "  no  condemnation  "  in  the  first  verse  and  concludes  with 
"  no  separation  "  in  the  last.  But  let  us  not  be  content  with 
mere  shibboleths  or  aphorisms.  Let  us  see  that  we  know  what 
they  really  mean.  The  first  verse  starts  only  with  the  believ- 
er's joys;  but  before  we  come  to  the  thirty-ninth  verse  we 
ought  to  know  very  much  about  the  blessings  of  sonship  and 
the  joys  of  the  holy  Hfe,  until  at  last  we  can  say,  "  I  am  per- 
suaded [Are  you?  Are  you  indeed  persuaded,  with  the  blessed 
persuasion  of  God's  children?],  that  neither  death,  nor  hfe, 
nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present, 
nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,*  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  This  is  the  seventh  and 
last  of  the  Apostle's  conclusions.  This  is  what  we  all  so  de- 
light to  speak  of — the  love  of  God.  The  love  of  God  to  me 
is  the  last  of  the  seven  great  mercies  to  which  the  Apostle  ap- 
peals—"///  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

One  might  think,  perhaps,  that  his  argument  would  now  be 
over ;  but  he  remembers  that  there  are  some  who  trouble  them- 
selves about  the  doctrine  of  election,  so  he  rapidly  sketches  the 
great  truth  of  the  free  will  of  man  side  by  side  with  the  omnip- 
otence of  God,  and  in  the  ninth  chapter  tells  us  what  election 
means,  while  in  the  tenth  chapter  he  says  that  it  cannot  affect 

*  Observe  that  creation  is  the  Greek  word  used  by  St.  Paul,  not  crea- 
ture. If  even  God  himself  should  call  into  existence  anything  magnificent, 
beautiful,  or  eternally  attractive,  even  such  a  creation  should  never  sepa- 
rate us  from  the  love  of  God  the  Father,  the  love  of  God  the  Son,  and  the 
love  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  21 

any  willing  man's  salvation,  "  For  whosoever  shall  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved ;"  and  at  the  close  of  the 
chapter  he  shows  God  himself  "  stretching  out  his  hands  all 
day  long  unto  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people."  Have 
we  ever  thought  of  those  "  hands  stretched  out "  from  heaven 
to  this  world,  draining  themselves  of  love,  if  it  were  possible, 
toward  "  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people  "  ?  "All  day  long 
have  I  stretched  out  my  hands,"  saith  the  Lord.  Is  not  this 
wonderful — wonderful?  Men  have  to  run  away  from  the  love 
of  God  if  they  are  ever  without  it.  They  must  get  somewhere 
— I  know  not  where  ;  some  strange  cell  of  their  own  invention 
must  be  found  by  men  who  would  escape  the  love  of  God ;  for 
God's  hands  are  stretched  out,  and  they  drip  with  riches  of 
mercy.     Yet  drops  would  not  suffice,  for,  as  we  sing : 

"  Mercy-drops  round  us  are  falling, 
But  for  the  showers  we  plead;  " 

and  these  showers  of  blessing  are  really  falling  upon  us  all. 

Take  one  more  ifi  from  the  eleventh  chapter.  Before  he 
comes  to  the  practical  argument  of  chapter  xii.  i,  the  Apostle 
says,  "  God  hath  concluded  them  all  in  unbelief,  that  he  might 
have  mercy  upon  all ;  "  i.e.,  Jew  and  Gentile  are  both  shut  up 
under  sin,  that  God  may  show  his  wonderful  mercies  to  all. 
Do  you  marvel  that,  though  he  was  inspired,  this  man  should 
stop  in  the  midst  of  his  argument  the  moment  that  he  had 
written  those  words,  "that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all," 
to  say,  "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God!  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and 
his  ways  past  finding  out!  .  .  .  For  of  him,  and  through  him, 
and  to  him,  are  all  things:  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and 
ever."  Then  there  comes  from  the  Apostle  one  grand  paean 
of  praise,  which  rises  right  up  to  the  courts  of  heaven,  and  con- 
sists of  the  only  word  that  man  has  need  to  say,  the  one  word 


2  2  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

that  we  must  say,  to  all  God's  revelation,  if  we  would  enjoy 
all  the  blessing  that  it  brings,  and  that  is,  "Amen."  "To 
whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

"  I  beseech  you  therefore  [i.e.,  by  all  the  mercies  of  God, 
which  have  now  been  unfolded],  .  .  .  that  ye  present  your 
bodies  a  Hving  sacrifice."  Oh  that  I  had  words  at  command 
to  develop  as  they  deserve  the  mercies  of  my  God,  and  to 
make  all  men  know,  if  possible,  the  "unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ "  !  Think  over  these  mercies,  think  of  man's  need,  think 
of  man's  ruin,  think  of  God's  love,  think  of  the  Christ,  think 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  think  of  the  joy,  the  grand  deliverance 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of 
the  sons  of  God  (for  that  is  the  Greek).  Does  it  touch  or  does 
it  appeal  to— does  it  weigh  with  your  soul  ?  I  care  not  for 
your  head  so  much  as  for  your  heart  now.  The  heads  are 
enlightened  enough,  I  believe;  but  have  we  all  heard  and 
obeyed  this  call  of  the  Apostle  to  present  (offer  up)  our  bodies 
unto  God  ?     Consider  closely  what  is  really  required. 

You  are  called  to  offer  up.  Here  comes  in  the  exercise  of 
free  will.  Man  can  choose.  If  he  says  "  Amen  "  to  God, 
he  puts  himself  absolutely  at  God's  command,  "spirit,  soul, 
and  body,"  according  to  God's  order,  by  his  holy  Apostle  St. 
Paul,  and  must  offer  his  body  a  living  sacrifice  to  God,  as  his 
reasonable  service.  We  have  been  made  a  kingdom  of  priests 
unto  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  are  called  as  priests  to  pre- 
sent our  sacrifices  on  God's  altar.  I  appeal  to  all  to  come 
before  God  with  what  God  will  accept,  and  to  keep  back 
nothing.  Remember  that  he  asks  for  your  "  spirit,  soul,  and 
body  " ;  and  as  you  lay  your  sacrifice  before  the  altar,  say,  as 
we  say  in  our  English  communion  service,  "  Here,  Lord,  we 
offer  and  present  ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies,  to  be  a  rea- 
sonable, holy,  and  lively  sacrifice  unto  thee." 

But  suppose  that  we  offer  ourselves  to  God,  and  immediately 
after  our  act  of  consecration  there  arises  some  temptation  or 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  23 

difficulty  which  shall  provoke  us  to  withdraw  the  sacrifice. 
We  have  presented  our  bodies,  remember,  including  every 
member  and  every  faculty.  Now  can  you  imagine  an  IsraeHte 
going  to  the  altar  and  through  the  priest  offering  his  sacrifice 
to  God,  who  takes  possession  of  it,  and  the  fire  begins  to  con- 
sume the  sacrifice ;  and  then  that  man  comes  forward,  and, 
on  account  of  his  carnal  appetite,  demands  the  sacrifice  back 
again  ?  Such  blasphemous  sacrilege,  I  suppose,  was  never 
committed  by  an  Israelite— no,  never.  Yet  that  is  what  Chris- 
tians, called  to  be  saints,  called  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  beloved  of 
God,  would  seem  to  be  doing  day  after  day.  At  the  close  of 
holy  services  and  conventions,  too  often,  when  they  say  that 
they  have  presented  their  body  upon  the  ahar,  they  proceed 
to  draw  it  back  from  God  for  some  little  home  comfort  which 
they  are  not  ready  to  forego  ;  for  some  trouble  with  a  neighbor 
which  they  will  not  give  up ;  for  some  storm  of  temper  unre- 
strained, or  some  other  vile  wickedness  which  is  spoken  of  as 
a  mere  "  infirmity  of  the  flesh." 

"Present  your  bodies  a  hving  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable 
unto  God."  Observe,  I  pray  you,  that  it  is  to  be  a  ''living 
sacrifice."  Thank  God,  the  dead  sacrifices  are  over.  It  took 
death  to  make  a  sacrifice  under  the  law ;  it  takes  life  to  make 
a  sacrifice  under  the  gospel.  The  man  who  under  Judaism 
could  present  a  dead  sacrifice  insults  God  if  he  comes  before 
the  table  and  says  that  God  will  accept  a  dead  sacrifice  for  sin. 
We  died  with  Christ,  and  have  done  with  death ;  and  now  we 
enter  into  life,  and  God's  acceptable  sacrifices  are  "  living  sac- 
rifices "  alone.  How  needful  it  is  not  to  insult  God  by  repeat- 
ing the  old  Jewish  ceremonial,  but  to  say,  "  God,  take  me  alive 
unto  God  in  Jesus  Christ ;  it  is  all  I  have,  but  take  me.  Lord, 
as  I  offer  myself  a  living  sacrifice  unto  thee  " !  Are  you  will- 
ing ? 

St.  Paul  says  that  it  is  "your  reasonable  service.''^  You  are 
very  fond  of  logic ;  then  take  the  gospel  logic,  will  you?    The 


24  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

gospel  logic  is,  Man  is  lost  in  Adam  the  first ;  Christ  has  died 
as  Adam  the  second ;  therefore  man  belongs  to  Christ.  Now 
"whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you,  do  it."  The  Virgin  Mary 
preached  one  sermon— only  one— a  beautiful  sermon,  and  we 
love  her  for  it.  O  woman,  will  you  follow  Mary,  and  give  a 
pattern  to  men  as  Mary  did ;  and  begin  to  convey  the  blessed 
instruction  through  your  own  example,  "  Whatsoever  he  saith 
unto  you,  do  it"? 

This  beseeching  of  St.  Paul  is  so  wonderful  that  it  seems 
to  draw  out  the  whole  heart  to  this  work.  St.  Paul  says  that, 
"  being  such  a  one  as  Paul  the  aged,  he  beseeches."  May  I 
say  that,  "  being  such  a  one  as  Peploe  the  stranger,  I  beseech 
you  by  the  mercies  of  God  "?  I  can  but  briefly  recall  what  this 
wondrous  word  means.  It  is  not  compulsion  of  law,  needing 
supernatural  surroundings  like  those  of  Mount  Sinai,  but  it  is 
the  logic  of  the  cross  to  which  I  will  now  draw  you. 

My  wife's  father,  who  was  formerly  a  great  leader  of  the 
bar,  and  afterward  a  lord  justice  of  appeal  in  England,  once 
told  me  that,  as  he  came  out  of  the  Queen's  Court  one  day 
into  Westminster  Hall,  he  saw  a  brother  barrister  in  the  hall 
and  went  up  to  speak  to  him ;  but,  finding  him  in  tears,  he 
said,  "Brother,  what  is  it?  Is  there  trouble  at  home?" 
"  No,"  he  said,  "  it  is  trouble  within.  I  am  fifty-six  years  of 
age,  and  I  always  thought  that  before  I  died  I  should  have 
to  appeal  to  God  for  mercy ;  but  as  I  sat  in  court  just  now 
there  came  over  me  a  text  which  I  had  never  thought  of  be- 
fore. I  suddenly  seemed  to  hear  St.  Paul  saying,  '  As  though 
God  did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you,  in  Christ's  stead,  be 
ye  reconciled  to  God.'"  He  said,  "What  ca?i  this  mean? 
God  beseeching  me!  I  thought  I  should  have  to  beseech 
God,  and  yet  I  find  that  he  is  beseeching  7?te.  O  brother,  this 
is  so  wonderful  that  it  quite  overwhelms  me! "  That  man  died 
about  nine  weeks  after,  and  that  was  apparently  his  starting- 
point  for  heaven.     I  do  not  know  the  nature  of  his  bodily 


MAN'S  REASONABLE  SERVICE  25 

decay ;  but  my  father-in-law  saw  him  nearly  every  day,  and 
before  the  man  died  he  was  resting  in  Christ,  because  he 
heard  the  "beseechings  of  God." 

Have  we  not  unmistakably  heard  the  beseechings  of  God  ? 
"  I  beseech  you ;  I  beseech  you!  "  Do  not  measure  it  up  by 
American  arithmetic.  Take  it  by  the  laws  of  heavenly  calcu- 
lation, and  claim,  I  entreat  you,  all  that  it  involves,  including 
the  privilege  of  sacrificing  yourselves  to  God.  There  are  only 
three  sacrifices  which  a  Christian  can  give  under  the  gospel 
dispensation.  One  is  here,  your  person  ;  another  is  your  money 
or  your  purse  (Phil.  iv.  18);  the  third  is  the  acceptable  sac- 
rifice of  praise  (Heb.  xiii.  15,  16).  Your  person,  your  purse, 
and  your  praise  for  God.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
Apostle  should  use  the  expression  dvaia  in  each  of  these  three 
cases,  for  Qvaia  is  always  the  proper  word  in  the  Greek  for  a 
sacrifice  involving  the  death  of  the  victim.  Hence,  though 
offering  a  living  sacrifice,  you  must  die.  (See  2  Cor.  iv.  10.) 
Is  it  very  painful?  Well,  thank  God,  there  is  something  be- 
yond pain.  We  may  have  to  die,  and  yet  it  is  not  real  death ; 
it  is  giving  the  life  up,  but  not  giving  it  away.  Oh,  give,  give, 
give  to-day,  and  let  your  sacrifice  be  a  Qvaia  before  God. 
Begin  by  pouring  out  your  heart  and  saying : 

"  Thine  forever,  God  of  love,  here  and  in  eternity." 

Thine  forever,  cost  what  it  may  ! 

There  are  two  remarks  by  the  Apostle  on  the  word  accept- 
able. Man's  sacrifice  is  to  be  acceptable  to  God  (verse  i),  and 
God's  will  is  to  be  acceptable  to  man  (verse  2).  The  order  of 
these  used  to  puzzle  me  much.  God  says  that  his  service 
shall  be  acceptable  to  us  when  our  sacrifice  is  acceptable  to 
him.  The  world  says,  "We  do  not  find  Christianity  accept- 
able ;  it  is  all  such  a  miserable  round  of  duty  or  service." 
Nay,  not  so.  The  whole  matter  is  really  summed  up  in  this : 
the  mercies  of  God  are  so  great  that  we  cannot  help  giving  to 


2  6  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

him,  and  when  we  give  ourselves  to  him  we  find  his  service 
a  full  reward. 

"  Make  thou  his  service  thy  delight; 
He  will  make  thy  wants  his  care." 

If  you  will  only  give  yourself  to  God  in  response  to  his  mer- 
cies you  will  find  that  to  serve  him  is  such  a  joy  that  you  will 
go  right  through  the  world  with  joy  and  gladness  of  heart. 

When  I  was  a  young  man,  and  about  to  be  married,  I  gave 
all  that  I  could  to  her  whom  I  would  take  for  my  wife.  Often- 
times the  things  were  not  worth  her  acceptance,  and  I  won- 
dered afterward  that  she  ever  cared  for  what  I  gave  her,  the 
offerings  I  made  were  so  painfully  poor ;  but  I  know  that  she 
received  them  as  if  she  valued  and  loved  them  because  they 
were  all  that  I  had  to  give,  and  what  she  really  desired  and 
valued  was  my  heart. 

God  Almighty  will  take  your  poor  gift  with  delight,  even 
though  it  is  not  worth  anything  whatever.  Only  give  him 
what  you  have,  and  you  will  find  that  the  joy  of  the  Lord 
comes  back  to  you  moment  by  moment,  until  at  last  you  can 
say,  "  My  soul  is  satisfied  with  marrow  and  fatness,"  while  God 
is  well  pleased  for  his  righteousness'  sake.  "  Be  not  conformed 
[like  a  skeleton]  to  this  world :  but  be  ye  transformed "  (/zt/ 
avvax'i^fJ'CbTi^eGOe,  dXXa  iiEraiiop(povoBe),  till  in  the  realities  of 
God  you  find  your  satisfaction,  and  your  gracious  Father  finds 
his  delight.  May  God  Almighty  seal  us  all  to  his  own  glory 
by  enabling  every  one  to  say  from  the  heart,  "  My  Lord,  my 
God,  I  am  thine  forever,  and  thine  alone.     Amen." 


THE    CURSE    OF    COMPROMISE 


"  Abram  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  Lot  dwelt  in  the  cities  of 
the  plain,  and  pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom." — Genesis  xiii.  12. 

IF  there  be  any  purpose  in  conventions,  it  is  that  the  children 
of  God  may  be  brought  face  to  face  with  realities ;  that 
their  souls  may  be  instructed  by  God  the  Holy  Ghost  as  to 
the  position  which  they  now  occupy  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord, 
the  position  which  it  is  possible  for  them  to  take  if  they  have 
accepted  the  fullness  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  the  action 
that  they  should  individually  take  in  order  to  enjoy  the  best 
that  may  be  obtained  by  the  behever.  We  know  nothing  of 
"perfection  in  the  flesh";  nothing  of  a  sinless  life  lived  by 
man  so  long  as  he  is  mortal.  We  know  of  no  means  by  which 
man  may  live  a  Hfe  of  blessing  and  power  on  earth,  except 
as  he  is  in  Christ  Jesus  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  On  earth 
man  remains  corrupted  by  nature  with  what  is  entitled  "  orig- 
inal sin  " ;  in  his  best  efforts  there  is  evil,  if  God  be  extreme 
to  mark  what  is  amiss.  Let  us  realize  this  at  the  outset.  And 
yet  God  intended  man  to  Hve  a  blessed  hfe  even  here  upon 
earth— a  life  in  which  holiness  prevails,  as  against  all  that  is 
evil. 

It  is  said  that  a  blunder  is  worse  than  a  crime ;  and  the 
church  of  God  is  making  an  awful  blunder  when  it  attempts, 
as  it  is  attempting  too  generally,  to  compromise  between  the 
heavenly  and  the  earthly.  Men  say,  "  God  forbid  that  I  should 
sin  openly,  that  I  should  live  a  depraved  life.    I  must  at  least 

27 


28  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

acquiesce  in  the  standard  of  morality  accepted  among  men ; 
but  that  I  should  be  consecrated  wholly  to  the  Lord,  and  that 
every  thought,  word,  and  deed  should  bear  testimony  to  the 
power  of  the  indwelHng  Christ— this  is,  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, practically  speaking,  impossible!" 

Before  God  and  man  we  deny,  with  all  the  powers  that  we 
have,  the  justice  of  such  an  utterance.  It  is  a  commonplace 
utterance  in  the  church  of  God ;  but  we  Christians  need  to  be 
lifted  out  of  the  commonplace  into  "  fellowship  with  God  the 
Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,"  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  into  a  fellowship  which  shall  enable  us  not  only 
to  talk  theoretically  about  the  riches  which  are  treasured  up  in 
Christ  Jesus,  but  to  say  that  God  has  opened  that  great  river 
of  the  water  of  life  which  was  once  dammed  up  in  heaven  by 
reason  of  man's  sin,  and  has  now  poured  it  out  upon  the  chil- 
dren of  men.  Christ  has  now  opened  a  new  and  living  way 
by  which  all  men  may  enter  into  the  holiest,  if  they  will.  As 
he  opened  the  way  upward  for  men  to  draw  nigh  to  God,  so 
God  opened  the  way  downward  for  the  river  of  life  to  come  to 
men ;  and  that  river  is  to-day  flowing  over  all  the  world.  Who- 
soever will,  let  him  wash,  drink,  rest,  and  rejoice.  The  man 
that  gets  the  fullness  of  the  power  of  that  river,  "  out  of  his 
belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."  God's  gift  to  man  is 
no  mean  thing ;  it  is  no  mere  sentence  from  the  law  court  that 
takes  its  effect  in  the  eyes  of  the  police  officer,  so  that  he  no 
longer  has  the  power  of  arresting  the  criminal.  The  gifts  of 
God  are  so  rich  and  beautiful  that  the  marvel  is  that  even  the 
carnal — that  is,  men's  natural — eyes  ca7i  be  withholden  from 
seeing  the  splendor  of  them,  that  men's  hearts  ca?i  be  with- 
holden from  the  attraction  of  them,  and  that  men's  lives  cafi 
be  lived  so  low  down,  when  there  is  so  much  to  be  had. 

The  life  which  God  intends  every  Christian  to  live  should 
not  be  entitled  "  the  higher  life."  Theodore  Monod  once  said 
that,  as  he  passed  through  a  certain  street  in  Brighton,  he  ob- 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  29 

served  that  it  was  called  "  The  King's  Road."  He  said  to  the 
friend  with  whom  he  was  walking,  "  This  road  is  very  high  up, 
but  it  is  the  king's  road,  and  there  is  no  other ;  every  man  has 
a  right  to  walk  in  it."  As  long  as  men  talk  about  a  "  higher 
life  "  they  are  generally  trying  to  be  satisfied  with  the  lower. 
But  why  should  we  be  content  to  live  below  that  which  is 
really  the  King's  highway,  on  which  every  Christian  should  be 
walking  ? 

God's  picture-book  in  the  Old  Testament  is  purposely  put 
before  the  New  Testament,  in  order  that  as  children  men  may 
learn  through  pictures  the  wonderful  beauty  of  God's  provi- 
sions and  the  painful  stupidity  and  wickedness  of  man.  A 
child  naturally  does  not  understand  the  science  of  painting  as 
the  grown  artist  understands  it ;  but  even  a  child  understands 
a  picture,  when  put  before  it  in  simple  lines.  God  has,  there- 
fore, pictured  in  the  Old  Testament  his  wonderful  gospel, 
sometimes  in  the  barest  outlines,  but  so  that  every  man  may 
understand  those  glorious  provisions  of  God's  love  which  are 
afterward  detailed  in  the  New  Testament  by  the  example  of 
Christ  and  by  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  apostles.  At  the 
same  time  he  has  also  pictured  the  blind  depravity  of  man, 
and  his  strange  unwilHngness  to  belong  wholly  to  the  Lord. 

In  the  story  of  Lot  we  have  a  contrast  between  three  classes 
of  people  such  as  may  be  found  in  every  city  or  village  and  in 
very  many  homes.  These  three  classes  of  men  are  illustrated 
by  the  wicked  men  of  Sodom,  the  halting  Lot,  and  the  faith- 
ful Abraham. 

Abraham  is,  to  my  mind,  one  of  the  most  brilliant,  if  not  the 
most  brilliant,  of  the  Old  Testament  examples  of  what  faith 
will  enable  a  man  to  be  and  to  do.  Even  in  this  page  of  his 
history  he  supplies  precious  lessons  to  the  Christian.  We  can 
but  note  in  passing  the  men  of  Sodom  as  exhibiting  the  sin 
and  folly  of  the  world,  and  Abraham  as  exhibiting  the  blessed 
privileges  of  the  faithful. 


30  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

I  trust  that  you  are  distinctly  delivered,  by  the  regenerating 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  by  your  enjoyment  of  Christ 
Jesus,  from  the  position  of  the  men  of  Sodom.  But  while,  as 
professing  Christians,  we  imagine  that  we  could  never  become 
like  the  men  of  Sodom  by  indulgence  in  that  which  is  too  de- 
praved to  be  discussed,  and  while  we  contrast  their  deeds  with 
the  life  that  we  are  hving,  yet  when  God  would  describe  the 
men  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  he  gives  us  a  picture  utterly 
different  from  what  we  might  have  expected.  While  men  and 
women  of  to-day  say  that  the  sin  of  Sodom  was  the  most  out- 
rageous that  ever  could  be  committed  by  human  creatures,  and 
flatter  themselves  that  they  could  not  incur  the  fate  of  Sodom, 
God  speaks  very  differently  concerning  those  people. 

"  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  Sodom  thy  sister  hath  not  done,  she 
nor  her  daughters,  as  thou  hast  done,  thou  and  thy  daughters.  Behold, 
this  was  the  iniquity  of  thy  sister  Sodom,  pride,  fullness  of  bread,  and 
abundance  of  idleness  was  in  her  and  in  her  daughters,  neither  did  she 
strengthen  the  hand  of  the  poor  and  needy." — Ezekiel  xvi.  48,  49. 

Who,  then,  can  claim  that  the  Christian  church  is  wholly 
exempt  from  the  sin  of  Sodom?  I  fear  that  if  we  were  to  test 
our  hearts  and  lives  almost  every  one  would  find  that  he  was 
guilty,  in  some  degree  at  least,  of  the  sins  which  led  to  the  de- 
struction of  Sodom.  "  Pride,  fullness  of  bread,  and  abundance 
of  idleness  "—I  doubt  whether  any  part  of  the  church  of  God 
can  claim  to  be  exempt  from  these  "httle  peccadilloes."  We 
should  not  flatter  ourselves  that  we  have  clean  escaped  from 
the  peril  of  God's  righteous  wrath  simply  because  we  hate  the 
title  of  what  is  known  as  the  great  sin  of  Sodom.  Let  us  take 
heed  that  we  be  not  among  the  men  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
at  all— that  is,  not  at  all  given  over  to  the  world,  and  thus 
courting  God's  destruction.  But  can  we  say  that  our  lives  have 
been  translated  into  the  life  of  Abraham,  "the  father  of  the 
faithful"? 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  31 

Abraham  was  a  man  who,  at  the  call  of  God,  stepped  out 
from  the  old  position,  which  was  practically  that  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah ;  for  it  is  almost  unquestionable  that  Abraham  was 
brought  up  in  idolatry  (Josh.  xxiv.  2).  In  the  obedience  of 
faith  he  abandoned  everything,  trusting  himself  to  the  Lord, 
and  going  into  the  land  in  which  God  told  him  to  dwell. 
There  he  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  strangers,  in  the  midst 
of  perilous  difficulties  and  mighty  foes. 

Twice  we  read  the  remarkable  statement  that  "  the  Canaanite 
and  the  Perizzite  dwelt  then  in  the  land  "  (Gen.  xii.  6 ;  xiii.  7). 
For  years  those  sentences  puzzled  me,  but  I  am  quite  sure 
that  I  see  their  teachings  now,  viz.,  that  no  man  could  with- 
stand Abraham.  Those  Canaanites  and  Perizzites  were  a 
hostile  force  that  he  could  not  possibly  resist  by  any  human 
provision;  but  they  never  touched  Abraham,  but  called  him 
"  lord."  So  when  we  say  to  you,  "  Come  up,  and  by  faith  give 
yourselves  wholly  to  the  Lord,  and  step  into  the  land  called 
Canaan  "  (not  heaven  above,  but  heaven  brought  to  earth, 
which  is  the  true  Canaan),  there  will  be  an  instinct  in  your 
soul  replying,  "  Yes,  but  the  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite  dwell 
in  the  land,  and  they  are  enough  to  overwhelm  a  man  like  me. 
If  I  attempt  to  compete  with  the  energy  of  this  day  on  the 
ground  of  Hving  wholly  by  faith  in  the  Lord,  I  am  sure  that 
it  will  prove  an  utter  impossibility."  My  brother,  the  devil  is 
a  liar,  and  the  father  of  lies.  He  comes  to  men  of  business, 
and  to  gay  women  of  the  world  who  would  like  to  have  a  little 
more  pleasure  before  they  are  sanctified  to  Christ,  and  he  says, 
"  It  is  not  possible  for  you  to  get  out  of  the  difficulties  which 
will  face  you  when  you  are  utterly  given  up  to  the  Lord."  But 
God  is  better  than  the  devil ;  God  is  greater  than  the  devil. 
If  you  believe  in  the  devil  you  are  done  for;  if  you  trust  in 
God  you  are  safe.  When  the  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite  meet 
you,  you  have  no  more  reason  to  fear  them  than  you  have  to 
fear  a  fly,  which  may  trouble  you  by  his  presence,  but  cannot 


32  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

injure  you.  The  man  who  goes  into  Canaan  and  says,  "  The 
Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite  are  there,  but  I  am  safe  in  the  hand 
of  the  Lord,"  can  walk  through  the  whole  length  and  breadth 
of  the  country,  and  hft  up  his  eyes  northward,  southward,  east- 
ward, and  westward,  and  find,  by  the  promises  of  God,  that 
every  atom  of  that  land  that  he  puts  his  foot  on  and  claims  is 
his  own,  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of  use  and  enjoyment. 
Instead  of  injuring  Abraham,  the  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite 
always  bowed  down  to  him  and  called  him  "my  lord  Abra- 
ham." They  never  dared  to  touch  him  throughout  the  whole 
of  his  sojourn  in  the  Land  of  Promise.  He  takes  what  he 
wants ;  he  grows  so  abundantly  rich  that  there  is  not  a  man 
like  him  in  the  land,  because  the  favor  of  God  is  upon  that 
man's  soul.  He  puts  his  trust  in  the  Lord  and  says,  "  Let 
wealth  come,  it  is  of  the  Lord ;  let  poverty  come,  it  is  the 
Lord's  will." 

When  Lot  inquires  in  regard  to  the  inheritance,  Abraham 
leads  him  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  and  says,  "  My  brother, 
would  you  Hke  to  take  that  part?  then  I  will  go  here ;  or  this 
part?  then  I  will  go  there."  He  leaves  it  all  in  the  Lord's 
hands.  My  brother,  when  your  father's  inheritance  was 
divided,  did  it  cause  trouble  ?  Then  take  shame  to  yourself 
that  you  could  quarrel  with  a  brother  or  nephew  because  you 
had  not  all  that  you  wanted  of  this  world's  goods.  What  is 
the  meaning  of  Jehovah-jireh  but  this :  Abraham  has  learned 
to  trust  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  never  abandons  Abraham? 
From  the  moment  when  we  learn  what  it  is  to  trust  wholly  to 
the  Lord,  every  day  and  every  moment,  we  begin  not  only  to 
possess  spiritual  blessings  in  heaven  (Eph.  i.  3),  but  to  know 
experimentally  even  on  earth  what  it  is  to  efijoy  the  posses- 
sions which  are  laid  up  for  us  in  Christ  Jesus.* 

*  St.  Paul  says  that  he  has  one  gospel  to  preach,  and  it  is  "  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  Christ."  How  much  did  St.  Paul  know  of  him? 
All  that  his  soul  could  take  by  faith.     What  he  could  express  to  his 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  32> 

There  is  a  grand  life  to  be  known  on  earth  by  the  man  who 
trusts  the  living  God.  But  between  these  two  extremes — the 
men  of  the  world,  who  fall  away  so  completely  that  God  has 
to  destroy  them  by  fire,  and  the  Abraham,  who  represents  the 
true  Hfe  of  faith,  in  which  there  is  communion  and  fellowship 
with  God— there  stands  a  third  class,  the  Lot-like  Christians, 
upon  whom  I  shall  now  dwell.  How  solemn  is  the  subject! 
It  is  a  horrible  picture,  which  I  shrink  from  describing.  But  we 
must  look  at  Lot  as  a  concrete  example  of  the  life  that  seems 
to  be  lived  by  the  majority  of  the  church  of  God  even  to-day. 
How  terrible  it  seems,  and  what  a  reflection  it  brings  upon  the 
honor  of  our  Lord,  that  men  should  be  contented  to  live  such 
a  life !  Only  remember  that  as  I  picture  in  Lot  possibly  your 
own  life  (your  family  life  and  your  business  life)  or  your  neigh- 
bor's life,  I  am  not  picturing  an  ungodly  or  a  worldly  man  at 
all.  St.  Peter  declares  in  his  second  epistle  that  Lot  was  "  a 
righteous  man." 

Lot  was,  then,  a  man  who  was  accepted  of  God  "  for  his 
righteousness'  and  his  mercy's  sake  " ;  a  man  who,  among  all 
his  fellow-Christians,  will  stand  one  day  as  perfectly  accepted 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  as  any  one.  He  was  "a 
righteous  man"  before  God,  and  he  ''vexed  his  righteous 
soul  from  day  to  day  at  the  ungodly  deeds  "  of  the  people  of 
Sodom,  among  whom  he  dwelt.  He  had  no  sympathy  with 
and  no  pleasure  in  the  ghastly  iniquities  that  disgraced  the  city 
of  Sodom ;  and  yet  he  is  found  living  there,  and  terrible  were 
the  consequences  which  he  incurred. 

Lot  had  made  very  large  sacrifices  in  the  obedience  of  faith 
before  he  was  found  dwelHng  in  Sodom.  He  had  given  him- 
self over  to  the  Lord  under  the  inspiration  of  faith  at  the  out- 
set as  much  as  Abraham.    He  had,  in  obedience  to  the  call  of 

brethren  about  the  riches  provided  in  Christ  was  just  so  much  as  he  had 
realized  in  his  own  soul,  and  could  take  hold  of  and  claim  as  his  own,  for 
enjoymetit. 


34  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

God,  abandoned  all,  and  had  journeyed  with  Abraham  until  he 
came  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  There  are  many  in  our  day 
who  call  themselves  Christians ;  who  can  kneel  down  and  utter 
a  beautiful  prayer ;  who  will  read  God's  Word  and  expound  it 
to  the  family ;  who  will  go  to  church  regularly,  and  be  down 
in  a  subscription  list  for  large  gifts  for  good  causes ;  who  have 
many  good  works  to  show  as  proofs  of  their  faith — but  who, 
for  their  soul's  sake,  should  begin  now  to  consider  whether  their 
life  is  not  mixed  up  with  the  world,  instead  of  being  out  and 
out  for  the  Lord. 

Words  cannot  lead  the  church  beyond  her  own  faith,  even 
if  God  gives  us  words  of  molten  fire  that  shall  burn  into  men's 
souls.  Words  cannot  lead  the  chiu-ch  into  the  life  of  posses- 
sion and  power  so  long  as  men  go  on  living  as  they  do,  and 
talking  about  the  mere  demands  of  duty.  Thank  God,  that 
word  duty  is  not  once  found  in  the  whole  Bible  as  we  use  it. 
When  you  read  in  Ecclesiastes,  ''This  is  the  whole  duty  of 
man,"  the  translators  had  to  introduce  the  word,  and  the  true 
reading  is,  "  This  is  the  whole  of  man."  There  is  no  stern  law 
of  necessity  laid  upon  the  church  ;  the  law  of  liberty  is  what  we 
claim.  "  Stand  fast  therefore  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
hath  made  us  free."  What  we  want  to  know  and  to  prove  is 
that  there  is  a  life  for  God's  people  by  comparison  with  which 
the  compromising  Christians  of  to-day  are  infinitely  to  be 
pitied. 

Do  any  mothers  say  that  they  do  not  go  out  much  to  parties 
and  balls  until  their  daughters  come  out,  and  then,  of  course, 
they  "  1/iust  take  the  girls  into  society  "  ?  Do  any  fathers  not 
patronize  theaters  for  themselves,  but  when  the  girls  and  the 
young  men  grow  up  and  want  amusement,  then  they  must,  of 
course,  take  tickets  for  respectable  theaters?  The  dancing-girls' 
skirts  are  just  long  enough  there  to  save  the  performance  from 
being  described  as  indecent,  and  the  words  that  are  uttered  are 
not  so  depraved  as  to  be  sure  to  injure  their  daughters'  morals. 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  35 

People  have  said  to  me  again  and  again  during  my  nine- 
teen years*  ministry  in  London,  "  I  would  not,  of  course,  go  to 
a  polished-floor  ball,  but  I  suppose  there  is  no  harm  in  a  car- 
pet-dance. I  would  not  for  anything  go  to  see  some  of  the 
impure  plays  of  which  I  hear,  but  a  good,  first-class,  moral 
theater  is  all  right  for  Christian  people,  is  it  not  ?  "  I  cannot 
stop  to  weigh  worldly  pleasures  in  the  scales,  as  a  physician 
might  measure  out  poisons,  to  see  just  what  amount  would  be 
deadly,  or  just  what  constitutes  the  difference  between  moral- 
ity and  immorality.  The  Lord  has  called  us  to  a  life  full 
of  privilege  when  all  is  consecrated  to  God ;  a  Hfe  of  honor 
and  of  delight  in  giving  up  everything  to  the  Master.  Such 
quibbling  distinctions  are  of  the  devil,  and  it  is  idle  to  try  and 
differentiate  between  the  propriety  of  a  carpet-dance  and  the 
impropriety  of  a  polished-floor  ball.  We  must  not  degrade 
our  Christianity  thus.  We  must  ask  ourselves  this  one  thing : 
"  If  I  am  consecrated  to  God  from  this  day  forward,  for  time 
and  for  eternity,  and  my  profession  is  real,  how  can  I  prove 
it  best  by  every  action  of  my  life,  by  every  thought  and  every 
word  that  proceeds  from  me?  "  We  are  not  to  ask  how  nearly 
we  may  conform  to  the  world  in  its  pleasures  and  customs,  and 
give  the  fag-ends  to  God  from  a  sense  of  duty  and  necessity, 
but  how  we  can  dehght  our  souls  in  him  and  his  service. 
There  are  many  Christians  who  seem  to  live  upon  earth  and 
now  and  then  pay  duty  calls  in  heaven ;  but  the  true  privilege 
of  the  Christian  is  to  live  in  heaven  and  pay  certain  duty  calls 
on  earth  when  God  imposes  the  necessity. 

Lot  was  a  man  set  apart  for  God,  having  been  justified  and 
sanctified.  All  went  well  with  him  until  he  found,  through  the 
providence  of  God,  as  you  must  have  found,  that  righteousness 
and  holiness  pay  even  in  this  world,  and  he  grew  rich.  There 
are  many  Christians  to  whom  God  allows  riches  to  come.  He 
has  to  test  them  in  different  ways,  and  when  a  man  begins  to 
be  rich  after  having  been  poor,  then  comes  the  hour  of  awful 


36  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

temptation,  and  of  mortal  danger  in  many  cases.  It  is  a  grand 
thing  to  have  a  good  name  and  a  good  inheritance  from  God, 
even  in  earthly  matters,  but  it  is  a  great  peril  to  many  men's 
souls. 

When  the  hour  of  testing  arrives,  Abraham  and  Lot  stand 
together  on  the  top  of  those  heights  from  which  the  plains  of 
Sodom  can  be  scanned,  and  then  Abraham  makes  that  glorious 
choice,  giving  the  option  to  Lot  and  trusting  /liviself  v^hoWy 
to  the  Lord.  But  Lot  beheld  the  plain  and  the  cities  of  the 
plain,  and  he  saw  that  they  were  well  watered,  like  the  garden 
of  the  Lord.  The  moment  a  man's  eyes  go  downward  instead 
of  upward,  then  his  real  spiritual  danger  begins.  Lot  looked 
down  upon  the  earthly  instead  of  up  to  the  heavenly,  and  from 
that  moment  his  soul  was  in  peril.  For  mark  how  he  chose. 
There  was  first  a  look,  then  a  desire,  then  a  moving  toward, 
then  the  pitching  of  the  tent  at  the  gate  of,  and  then  the  enter- 
ing into  and  dwelling  in  the  city  where  no  servant  of  the  Lord 
could  prosper.  What  a  strange  law  of  progress,  and  yet  how 
perfectly  natural! 

Lot  moves  into  Sodom.  He  settles  down,  and  becomes  at 
last  a  person  of  importance.  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  he  was 
not  running  for  mayor  or  the  lord  mayoralty  of  Sodom.  I 
imagine  he  would  have  come  out  at  the  head  of  the  city  life  if 
he  had  behaved  himself  satisfactorily  at  all  times  to  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  had  not  felt  constrained  to  reprove  their  ungodly 
deeds. 

At  last  it  seems  that  even  the  good  God  had  reached  the 
limits  of  his  forbearance.  Let  us  remember  that  there  is  a 
New  York  and  a  Chicago  and  a  London  which  are  not  un- 
noticed by  the  Lord,  and  the  time  may  be  at  hand  when  God 
will  forbear  no  longer,  but  will  let  his  judgment  descend  upon 
the  cities  which  are  utterly  wicked  in  his  sight.  Two  angels 
aiTive  in  Sodom  to  bring  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  that 
city ;  and  they  come  unto  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  stand  wait- 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  37 

ing  till  Lot  passes  by  and  invites  them  to  his  house— for  he  is 
a  hospitable  man!  Your  well-to-do  Christian  trying  to  Hve 
two  lives,  the  worldly  and  the  heavenly,  is  generally  hospitable. 
Into  the  house  of  Lot  they  enter,  and  there  they  detail  the  sol- 
emn purposes  of  God.  When  the  door  is  shut  the  message  is 
delivered :  "  The  Lord  hath  sent  us  to  destroy  this  city ;  hast 
thou  any  in  it  that  can  be  saved  ?  This  coming  judgment — 
wilt  thou  escape  with  them  all  ?  " 

Have  you  ever  noticed  that  people  who  flatter  themselves 
that  it  is  not  foolish  to  hve  a  kind  of  half-and-half  hfe,  sancti- 
fied so  far  as  belonging  to  God  is  concerned,  but  living  in  the 
most  perilous  surroundings  and  dangerous  habits,  always  think 
that  they  can  escape  the  danger  of  corruption  and  can  influence 
others?  Lot  dwells  in  the  city  of  Sodom  with  the  expectation 
that  he  can  affect  the  people  around  him  for  good.  A  Chris- 
tian's friends  say  to  him,  "  We  ought  to  go  into  society  to  affect 
society ;  it  is  our  duty,  as  Christians,  to  carry  our  lights  into 
the  world,  and  then  we  shall  influence  men  for  good."  Be 
assured  that  worldly  men  will  drag  you  down  to  their  level ; 
you  will  never  bring  them  up  to  your  level  until  you  have 
taught  them  boldly  to  know  Christ,  and  to  see  the  depravity 
of  their  nature  and  their  ways. 

See  what  happens :  the  compromiser  goes  out  into  the  crowd 
as  Lot  did  that  night,  when  the  men  gathered  around  his 
house  to  abuse  the  strangers ;  and  he  says,  "  My  brethren,  do 
not  so  wickedly."  Here,  then,  is  the  time  for  the  man's  char- 
acter to  hold  sway ;  here  is  the  opportunity  for  him  to  show 
how  much  influence  he  has  among  the  worldly  people  with 
whom  he  is  constantly  mixing;  here  is  the  chance  to  prove 
whether  his  so-called  preaching  for  the  Lord  has  been  of  any 
use !  How  much  influence  has  he  with  his  neighbors  ?  "  This 
one  fellow,"  the  men  say,  "  came  into  Sodom  to  sojourn  among 
us,  and  he  must  needs  be  a  judge :  we  will  do  worse  to  him 
than  to  them."     ITiai^  forsooth,  is  the  amount  of  influence 


3S  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

that  a  man  carries  with  the  world  when  he  tries  to  mingle  with 
them  as  one  of  themselves,  though  professing  to  bring  his 
Christianity  into  society,  into  business,  into  amusements,  into 
the  world.  He  carries  no  weight  whatever  while  he  presents  a 
mingled  condition,  a  half-and-half  life  thai  has  no  set  purpose 
throughout  it.  The  opinion  of  the  world  is  that  this  man  is  a 
sham. 

But  his  family— surely  his  family  will  be  affected  by  his  re- 
Hgion?  The  time  comes  when  the  angel  must  destroy  the  city 
with  fire,  and  he  says  to  Lot,  "  Hast  thou  here  any  besides?  " 
The  man  says  to  himself,  "  I  have  at  least  tried  to  be  a  faith- 
ful husband  and  father,  though  for  their  sakes,  and  in  business, 
I  have  had  to  mix  somewhat  with  the  world ;  yet  surely  my 
family  will  respect  and  hear  me."  Do  they  ?  He  came  to 
his  sons-in-law  and  said,  "  Get  you  out  of  this  place ;  for  the 
Lord  will  destroy  this  city  ;  "  but  "  he  seemed  as  one  that  mocked 
unto  his  sons-in-latvy  They  said  to  his  face— as  relatives  say 
now  to  those  whose  religion  commands  no  respect — "You 
fool  !  you  have  lived  for  this  world,  and  talked  of  it  as  continu- 
ing forever ;  and  now  you  come  to  us  and  say  that  the  flames 
of  God  are  about  to  descend  upon  this  city.  We  do  not  be- 
lieve any  such  folly  as  that!  " 

Men  will  never  believe  the  warnings  of  those  who  have  lived 
a  compromising  life,  in  which  the  world  has  had  chief  power. 
It  is  this  compromising  life  which  is  ruining  the  church  of  our 
day.  It  is  from  God  and  not  from  man  that  you  should  hear 
the  word  of  warning :  "  Come  out  from  among  them,  and  be 
ye  separate."  Be  well  assured  of  this :  that  the  compromising 
life  is  an  everlasting  disgrace  to  the  Christian  himself,  and  if 
continued  will  be  the  ruin  of  the  church  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Lot,  when  he  dared  to  sojourn  in 
Sodom !  When  a  compromising  Christian  appears  before  the 
society  in  which  he  has  lived,  or  before  his  worldly  relatives, 
and  says  to  them,  "  The  Lord  is  coming  in  flaming  fire  to  take 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  39 

vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,"  they  put  him  down 
as  an  impudent  impostor. 

In  half  despair  Lot  returns  to  his  own  home,  and  now 
shuts  himself  in  with  his  wife  and  two  daughters,  and  says, 
"  Beloved,  we  are  called  to  flee,  for  the  Lord  is  coming  to  de- 
stroy this  city.  I  have  laid  up  wealth;  I  have  worked  hard 
to  provide  a  competency  for  you ;  I  have  gone  through  much 
that  was  perilous ;  I  have  risked  my  soul ;  I  have  Hved  a  half- 
and-half  life ;  but  it  was  all  for  your  sakes ;  and  now  friends, 
family,  and  wealth  must  all  be  abandoned.  Arise,  let  us  flee ; 
it  is  all  that  we  can  do." 

Let  me  say  solemnly— for  I  feel  it  deeply — that  it  is  men's 
doubtful  compromises  that  are  destroying  not  only  the  soul's 
peace,  but  the  whole  family  Hfe.  Men  talk  of  the  necessity  of 
conforming  to  the  habits  of  those  among  whom  they  live,  and 
say  that  they  nmst  accept  the  laws  of  society;  but  it  is  just 
this  that  is  ruining  the  church  and  the  family. 

At  last  the  angel  hastens  them,  and  compels  the  little  house- 
hold to  escape.  Now  what  is  to  become  of  Lot's  beautiful 
home  and  his  accumulated  wealth?  He  has  nearly  lost  his 
soul  in  his  desire  for  riches,  and  to  endow  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ters with  something  when  he  is  gone  ;  but  every  shred  of  it  has 
to  be  left  behind,  and  he  must  escape  for  his  life.  The  angels 
take  hold  of  him  and  drag  him  out  of  the  city.  Would  to  God 
that  I  might  drag  you  out  from  Sodom  if  you  are  living  an 
undecided  life. 

When  the  angels  get  Lot  outside  they  say,  "  Escape  for 
your  life  to  the  mountains,  and  tarry  not."  Then  appears  the 
cringing  folly  of  the  man  who  has  brought  the  cause  of  God 
so  low,  and  he  says,  "  Oh,  not  so,  my  Lord ;  I  cannot  escape 
to  the  mountains,  lest  I  die."  He  actually  dares  to  pervert 
God's  message  of  truth,  and  to  turn  it  upside  down  to  please 
himself.  The  angel  says,  "  Escape  for  thy  life ;  tarry  not  in 
all  the  plain,  lest  thou  be  consumed,"  and  he  says,  "  I  cannot 


40  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

escape  to  the  mountains,  lest  I  be  consumed."  Then  God  is 
a  liar,  and  man  can  give  the  truth  without  reference  to  God! 
Is  it  so?  Choose  to-day  whether  you  can  safely  stay  in  that 
plain,  where  you  have  been  leading  a  compromised  life.  Lot 
said,  "  Behold,  that  little  city,  Zoar :  may  I  not  at  least  tarry 
thus  far  in  the  plain  life?  May  I  not  keep  just  this  one  little 
thing?  "  But  what  God  demands  is  whole-hearted  separation, 
straight  out,  and  all  in  a  moment,  from  the  things  that  have 
been  bringing  curse  upon  yourselves  and  upon  your  family. 

I  knew  of  a  girl  who  was  kept  for  seven  years  in  bondage, 
with  no  rest  or  peace  of  soul,  though  she  was  an  earnest  Chris- 
tian, simply  because  she  had  inherited  what  appeared  to  be  a 
beautiful  jewel.  It  was  a  great  attraction  to  her  to  observe  the 
way  in  which  people  looked  at  this  pendant  when  she  wore  it. 
Remember,  we  do  not  forbid  the  wearing  of  jewelry,  if  God 
does  not  forbid  it.  We  are  not  commissioned  to  say  that  you 
may  not  go  to  your  favorite  amusements,  and  that  you  may 
not  wear  pendants  upon  your  neck,  unless  God  shows  you  that 
they  are  not  for  his  glory.  You  must  settle  that  with  your 
God.  Only  take  care  that  your  decision  is  made  in  God's 
sight.  What  we  plead  for  is  principle.  For  seven  years  that 
girl  felt  that  that  simple  ornament  was  interfering  with  her 
whole-hearted  service  of  God ;  and  yet  she  would  not  give  it 
up.  It  was  a  mere  trifle,  but  it  spoiled  her  peace.  I  have 
seen  people  in  a  solemn  convocation  of  Christians  turning 
their  rings,  and  waiting  to  see  the  flash  of  light  reflected  from 
them.  Surely,  in  such  cases,  even  a  simple  ornament  is  a 
snare!  That  girl  for  seven  years  went  through  spiritual  bond- 
age because  she  would  not  give  up  one  little  thing ;  and  she 
had  no  rest  because  there  was  a  controversy  between  her  and 
her  God!  Her  soul  was  enslaved  just  as  Lot's  was  in  Sodom. 
At  last  she  went  to  a  jeweler  and  said,  "  I  want  you  to  take 
this  and  value  it  for  me."  He  said  he  would  tell  her  its  worth 
on  the  morrow.     She  could  not  sleep  that  night  from  distress. 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  41 

The  next  day  she  came  back  and  said  to  the  jeweler,  "  Well, 
what  is  it  worth?  "  He  said,  "  It  looks  pretty,  but  I  am  sorry 
to  tell  you  it  is  all  sham.  I  can  give  you  seven  shillings  for  it." 
Seven  shillings  for  seven  years'  bondage!  You  say,  "Poor 
thing !  to  be  so  deceived.  She  wasn't  much  of  a  discemer  in 
stones."  Do  you  suppose  it  will  make  much  difference,  when 
you  lie  down  to  die,  whether  it  was  real  carbon  or  sham  glass 
that  kept  your  soul  in  bondage  to  the  world?  Do  you  sup- 
pose it  will  make  much  difference  to  your  peace  in  that  hour 
whether  you  have  been  cherishing  real  diamonds  or  paste? 
We  must  get  over  these  quibbles  if  we  are  to  have  God's  bless- 
ing on  our  lives.  Seven  shillings  may  be  more  than  you  will 
get,  unless  you  will  give  over  all  your  doubtful  things  to  God, 
and  let  all  you  have  become  his  property  instead  of  your  own. 

At  last  Lot  and  his  wife  and  daughters  have  been  dragged 
out  of  the  city ;  yet  even  then  he  (and  the  Christian  who  re- 
sembles him)  says,  "  Oh,  let  me  keep  but  one  little  relic  of  the 
world;  must  I  give  up  all  that  has  been  so  attractive?  "  Poor 
soul !  would  to  God  he  could  help  you  in  your  hoiu*  of  distress. 
I  know  it  will  cost  you  much,  but  the  Lord's  word  is  impera- 
tive :  "  Leave  all  for  Christ's  sake,  or  you  will  inevitably  be 
consumed."  It  is  a  hard  thing  to  give  up  all ;  but  it  is  "  for 
your  life."  You  have  gone  through  so  much  for  the  sake  of 
those  possessions  that  it  seems  impossible  that  you  should 
have  to  abandon  them  all  and  escape  for  your  life  from  the 
plain  where  your  whole  security  seemed  to  lie.  Hence,  like 
Lot,  you  pray  for  some  respite.  The  angel  says,  "  Yes,  you 
may  cleave  to  this  little  one,  if  you  are  determined  to  have 
it."  If  men  will  make  compromises,  God  lets  them  alone ;  if 
a  Christian  determines  to  live  in  Zoar,  God  will  not  force  him, 
into  the  hills.  God  will  never  force  you  further  than  your  own  ^ 
will  assents  to  his  purposes  of  love. 

But  did  Lot  find  it  satisfactory  to  sojourn  in  Zoar?    Will  the 
Christian  find  that  he  has  peace  and  joy  so  long  as  he  tries  to 


42  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

satisfy  his  soul  by  saying  that  his  worldly  taste  is  only  a  little 
one?  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  wrong  to  smoke,  or  for  a  Chris- 
tian to  go  to  the  theater — that  is  for  each  one  to  settle  with 
his  God ;  but  when  Christians  draw  quibbling  distinctions  be- 
tween great  and  small  sins,  between  one  theater  and  another, 
one  party  and  another,  it  is  clear  that  the  conscience  is  not 
at  rest,  and  there  can  be  no  rest  till  God's  voice  is  fully  and 
heartily  obeyed. 

Lot  finds  it  impossible  to  remain  in  Zoar.  He  has  to  escape 
to  the  mountains  after  all,  and  when  he  gets  there  he  has  noth- 
ing but  a  cave  to  live  in.  Meanwhile  his  wife  has  "looked 
back,  and  been  turned  to  a  pillar  of  salt."  What  an  awful 
warning  to  those  who  have  given  up  the  walk  of  faith  in  order 
that  the  wife  and  children  should  be  provided  for!  To  think 
that  that  wife  may  be  cut  off  in  her  sin,  just  when  the  very 
property  is  gone  for  which  she  had  bartered  her  soul!  Lot's 
wife  was  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt,  and  he  would  ever  have 
to  look  at  that  pillar  and  say,  "  I  brought  my  wife  to  destruc- 
tion by  my  folly  and  sin  ;  I  have  ruined  the  very  one  for  whose 
sake  I  gave  up  all  that  was  blessed  and  beautiful."  Such  is 
too  often,  I  fear,  the  experience  of  the  compromising  Chris- 
tian. 

One  step  further  and  the  solemn  picture  is  complete.  The 
man  goes  up  into  the  hills  and  lives  in  a  cave,  simply  because 
he  is  driveti  to  obedience.  It  is  a  poor  thing  to  live  in  a  cave 
after  having  been  so  rich;  and  then— as  if  no  drop  of  bitter- 
ness should  be  lacking  in  that  man's  cup  before  he  finishes 
his  miserable  career— his  two  daughters,  the  last  shred  of  his 
earthly  possessions  or  hopes,  whom  he  has  carefully  trained  in 
the  arts  of  Sodom,  whom  he  has  allowed  to  associate  with  the 
men  of  that  city,  and  who  from  those  men  have  learned  the 
ways  of  immorality,  now  come  to  be  their  father's  curse  in  a 
way  that  we  could  hardly  have  conceived  to  be  possible. 
They  make  their  aged  father  drunk ;  the  sin  of  incest  is  twice 


THE  CURSE  OF  COMPROMISE  43 

committed ;  and  there  are  born  of  Lot— remember,  I  am  speak- 
ing of  "a  righteous  man  "—there  are  born  of  Lot,  though  a 
Christian  man,  a  people  who  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Scriptures  occupy  the  position  of  the  most  accursed  of  every 
age  and  of  every  nation. 

I  pray  God's  forgiveness  if  I  have  not  presented  this  solemn 
picture  tenderly,  and  if  there  has  been  any  unnecessary  wound- 
ing of  hearts  which  God  would  not  have  wished  hurt ;  but  re- 
member this:  that  Christian  men  are  becoming  compromised 
on  every  hand  in  these  dangerous  days,  and  that  this  is  the 
sure  pathway  to  bitter  misery,  bitter  loneliness,  bitter  sorrow, 
and  bitter  degradation. 

We  have  not  spoken  of  the  end  of  the  "  righteous  man,"  for 
I  believe  that  you  will  find  him  safe  in  heaven ;  but  will  you 
be  satisfied  with  such  an  entrance  as  Lot  must  have  had? 
Saved,  saved,  "  yet  so  as  by  fire."  Why  should  men  live  the 
life  of  compromise?  What  a  blessed  thing  it  would  be  if 
without  further  delay  every  man  and  woman  would  say  from 
the  very  heart : 

"  Now  to  be  thine,  yea,  thine  alone, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come  !  " 


THE    DIVINE    PURPOSE 

"  Wherefore  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  I  am  the  Lord,  and  I  will 
bring  you  out  from  under  the  burdens  of  the  Egyptians,  ...  I  will  re- 
deem you :  .  .  .  and  I  will  take  you  to  me  for  a  people,  and  I  will  be  to 
you  a  God:  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  your  God.  .  .  .  And 
I  will  bring  you  in  unto  the  land,  concerning  the  which  I  did  swear  to 
give  it  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob ;  and  I  will  give  it  you  for  a 
heritage:  I  am  the  Lord." — Exodus  vi.  6-8. 

EXTERNALLY  the  children  of  Israel  were  placed  in  pecu- 
liarly dark  circumstances,  with  difficulties  so  insuperable, 
from  the  human  point  of  view,  that  it  seemed  absolutely  impos- 
sible for  them  to  rejoice  or  to  give  God  glory  by  any  outward 
experience  in  their  lives.  Internally  they  realized  the  darkness 
of  their  position,  and  were  craving  for  liberty,  and  for  the  en- 
joyment of  all  the  promises  which  God  had  made  to  their 
fathers,  and  which  Moses  now  recalls  to  their  minds  and  hearts. 
And  yet  they  felt  within  their  souls  that  it  was  not  possible  that 
they  could  have  a  life  of  blessing,  because  circumstances  were 
against  them.  In  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel  God  was 
not  as  strong  as  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed ; 
and  with  all  the  light  and  liberty  and  blessings  that  we  profess 
to  enjoy  under  the  gospel,  God  is  not  as  strong  as  circumstances 
to  the  soul's  conviction  of  nine  tenths  of  his  church  to-day. 
People  say,  "  Circumstances  are  against  us ;  circumstances 
compel  us ;  circumstances  are  insuperable,  and  it  is  an  abso- 
lute impossibihty  that  one  placed  in  my  circumstances  should 
ever  be  a  devoted,  peaceful,  joyful,  constantly  victorious  child 
of  God." 

44 


THE  DIl/INE  PURPOSE  45 

We  testify  once  more  that  Satan  is  a  liar.  "  Let  God  be 
true,  and  every  man  a  liar,"  says  the  Apostle ;  and  we  would 
add,  *'  Let  God  be  true,  and  Satan  be  a  liar  henceforth  in  the 
experience  of  your  own  souls,  as  the  church  called  of  God,  re- 
deemed with  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  regenerated  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Satan  ever  was  a  liar,  and  he  hes  to  the  children  of 
God  to-day  when  he  tells  them  that  there  is  nothing  beautiful, 
nothing  blessed,  nothing  of  real  happiness  and  peace  and 
power,  to  be  known  by  a  child  of  God  in  this  world,  except 
the  conviction  that  God  has  overcome,  that  we  are  accepted  in 
the  Beloved,  and  that  we  may  hope  to  get  into  glory  only  after 
passing  through  a  miserable  existence  of  difficulty  and  failure 
in  this  world.  No!  "  Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for;"  it  brings  to  the  soul  of  the  believer  the  realization  of 
those  things  which  he  hopes  to  enjoy  hereafter.  No  man  has 
true  faith  in  God  who  does  not  in  some  degree  take  enjoyment 
from  the  things  laid  up  for  him  in  heaven,  and  which  God 
has  provided  in  Jesus  Christ.  Faith  is  no  faith  that  simply  at- 
tempts to  satisfy  the  soul  with  the  idea  of  future  enjoyment ; 
and  the  man  who  says  tliat  circumstances  make  it  impossible 
for  him  to  live  a  hfe  of  uninterrupted  blessing  and  peace  and 
fellowship  with  God — uninterrupted  in  its  victory  over  Satan 
and  in  its  deliverance  from  fret — is  a  deceived  man.  He 
falsifies  the  word  of  God,  he  brings  discredit  upon  the  cause  of 
Christ,  and  cannot  be  called  a  true  believer.  Uninterrupted 
peace,  uninterrupted  holiness — notwithstanding  the  presence  of 
indwelling  sin  and  the  pressure  of  internal  temptation,  notwith- 
standing the  knowledge  of  shortcoming  every  day,  every  hour, 
every  moment  of  our  hfe— uninterrupted  bliss,  is  the  privilege 
of  the  true  believer.  The  Hfe  of  distress  and  decrepitude 
instead  of  power  which  the  mass  of  professing  Christians  live 
to-day  makes  the  world  around  us  say,  "There  is  no  benefit 
in  Christianity.  Why  should  I  give  up  my  ease  and  pleasure 
in  this  world,  my  satisfaction  in  business,  and  profess  to  Hve 


46  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

according  to  what  men  call  a  higher,  holier  standard  of  life 
than  others,  if  the  Christians  show  by  their  looks  and  by  their 
lives  that  they  are  practically  only  cripples,  and  cripples  of  a 
very  painful  class— men  walking  in  distress  and  difficulty, 
always  afraid  that  they  are  going  to  fall ;  men  who  are  always 
needing  to  look  around  them  for  some  one  to  deliver  them 
from  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are  placed  ?  " 

Let  me  illustrate.  About  fifteen  years  ago  I  was  asked  to 
speak  at  the  great  Mildmay  Conference  in  London  to  those 
who  were  in  doubt  about  their  souls'  salvation.  Four  weeks 
later  I  spoke  upon  the  spiritual  life  at  another  convention  at 
the  seaside.  I  arrived  in  town  just  in  time  for  the  meeting,  and 
after  making  the  address  I  was  asked  by  the  vicar  to  find  my 
way  to  the  parsonage.  After  some  trouble  I  found  my  way 
to  what  I  was  told  was  the  vicar's  house,  and  groped  around 
in  the  dark  feeling  for  the  bell.  Suddenly  I  touched  a  human 
hand.  I  said,  **  I  beg  your  pardon."  A  lady's  voice  answered, 
"  It  is  Mr.  Webb-Peploe,  is  it  not?  "  "  Yes,"  I  rephed ;  "  but 
I  do  not  know  to  whom  I  am  speaking."  She  said,  "  A  month 
ago  I  heard  you  speak  at  Mildmay  on  '  the  reason  of  the  hope 
that  is  in  you,'  and  by  the  blessing  of  God  I  have  been  walk- 
ing in  it  ever  since." 

My  text  this  night  had  been  from  i  Corinthians  x.  1 3 : 
"  There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such  as  is  common 
to  man :  but  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  you  to  be 
tempted  above  that  ye  are  able ;  but  will  with  the  temptation 
also  make  a  way  to  escape,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  bear  it."  I 
asked  her  if  she  had  heard  the  address.  She  replied,  "  Oh  yes, 
and  I  have  come  a  long  way  to  hear  it."  Then  I  said,  "  Now 
you  can  pass  forever,  I  hope,  into  that  hfe  of  victory,  that  life 
of  peace,  that  Hfe  of  perpetual  power  and  prosperity,  that  Hfe 
of  unbroken  fellowship  with  God,  which  I  have  been  daring  to 
trace  as  the  inheritance  of  the  beHever,"  She  replied,  with  a 
pitiful  tone— I  could  see  nothing  but  the  gaslight  reflected  in 


THE  DiyiNE  PURPOSE  47 

her  eyes—'*  Oh,  I  would  to  God  it  were  possible!  I  would  to 
God  it  were  possible!  but  it  cannot  be  with  me."  "  Why?  "  I 
asked.  "  Because  of  my  circumstajices^^  she  replied.  "  But  I 
thought  I  spoke  about  circumstances,  and  said  that  God  was 
stronger  than  circumstances."  "  Yes,"  she  said,  "  you  did ;  but 
mine  are  such  peculiar  circumstances."  I  said,  "  I  thought  I 
spoke  about  peculiar  circumstances,  and  said  that  God  was 
stronger  than  they."  "  Yes,  you  did ;  but  mine  are  such  very 
peculiar  circumstances."  "  I  thought  I  spoke  about  very  pecu- 
liar circumstances,  and  said  that  God  was  stronger  than  they." 
"  Yes,"  she  said, ''  you  did  ;  but  mine  are  such  very^  very  pecu- 
liar circumstances."  I  replied,  "  I  did  not  speak  of  very^  very 
peculiar  circumstances ;  but  do  you  mean  to  say  they  are 
stronger  than  God?  "  "Well,  sir,"  she  answered,  "I  cannot 
say  about  that ;  but  I  know  that  I  cannot  expect  victory  and 
joy."  Then  I  said,  "  Let  us  tell  God  so.  Do  not  look  at  me — 
for  I  can  see  that  you  are  doing  that — but  look  up  to  heaven 
and  say  these  words  with  me  :  O  God,  I  thank  thee  with  all  my 
heart  and  soul  that  when  I  was  a  poor  lost  sinner  the  revelation 
was  given  to  me  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  and  not  imputing  unto  them  their  trespasses,  and 
that  I  can  now  claim  peace  with  God  through  the  blood  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  thank  thee.  Lord,  for  this  with  all  my 
heart.  And  now  I  wish  I  could  live  a  holy  life;  but.  Lord, 
my  VERY,  VERY  peculiar  circwnstances  seem  to  make  it  impos- 
sible for  Jesus  Christ  to  give  me  constant  deliverance.  I  am 
very  sorry,  Lord,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  strong  enough  to  meet 
my  very,  very  peculiar  circumstances ;  I  wish  he  were,  but  it 
seems  that  he  is  not ;  and  so.  Lord,  I  am  now  to  look  for  a 
life  of  failure  ;  I  expect  it,  because  Christ  is  not  strong  enough. 
O  God,  I  wish  Christ  were  stronger.  Amen,"  I  waited  and 
then  asked,  "  Why  do  you  not  say  it  ?  "  '*  Why,"  she  said, 
"  that  is  ra7ik  blasphemy  /  "  I  replied,  "  That  is  exactly  it ; 
and  yet  you  have  been  saying  it  in  your  heart,  but  you  dare 


48  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

not  say  it  with  your  lips.  It  is  no  worse  blasphemy  for  me  to 
say  it  out  loud  than  for  you  to  say  it  within.  Say  it  out  loud." 
She  said,  "  I  dare  not."  I  added,  "  And  nobody  else  would ; 
let  us  say  something  else,  then."  I  repeated  the  first  part  over 
again,  and  then  said,  **  Now,  Lord  God,  I  thank  thee  with 
all  my  heart  and  soul  that  Jesus  Christ  is  a  very,  very  peculiar 
Saviour  to  meet  the  very,  very  peculiar  need  of  a  very,  very 
peculiar  sinner  in  all  her  very,  very  peculiar  circumstances,  and 
to  bring  her  very,  very  pecuhar  soul  through  all  the  very,  very 
peculiar  difficulties  under  which  she,  in  her  very,  very  peculiar 
circumstances,  may  be  called  to  pass  throughout  her  life.  I 
accept  perpetual  deliverance  from  a  very,  very  peculiar  Saviour. 
O  God,  I  thank  thee.  Amen."  She  said,  "  Is  that  all  ?  is  that 
all  ?  Thank  God,  I  believe  it."  And  instead  of  coming  into 
the  vicarage,  she  went  down  the  steps  into  the  darkness ;  but 
she  went  into  a  light  that  no  human  being  and  no  devil  in  hell 
can  touch.  And,  brethren,  that  is  all,  that  is  all— a  very,  very 
peculiar  Saviour  to  meet  your  very,  very  peculiar  need,  how- 
ever much  you  have  to  say  that  you  are  a  very,  very  peculiar 
sinner. 

Now  everybody  is  a  very  pecuhar  person ;  I  never  met  any 
one  who  was  not ;  I  never  met  anybody  who  did  not  excuse 
himself  for  being  a  failure  as  a  Christian  on  the  ground  that 
he  had  very  pecuhar  difficulties ;  but  if  you  will  remember  that 
Jesus  Christ  died  for  you  as  if  there  were  not  another  soul  on 
earth,  and  that  he  was  the  omnipotent  Son  of  God  as  well  as 
the  perfect  Man,  and  that  he  is  now  in  heaven  on  the  right 
hand  of  God,  with  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  then  you 
will  begin  to  see  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  true  when 
it  teaches  that  men  can  hve  a  life  of  victory  and  power  and  un- 
ceasing  joy,  of  which  we  dare  to  sing,  but  do  not  mean.  We 
sing,  "  My  life  flows  on  in  endless  song,"  and  then  go  out  and 
grumble  at  everybody.  A  man  goes  out  of  a  meeting  where  his 
eyes  have  been  turned  up  until  they  have  nearly  gone  crooked, 


THE  DIVINE  PURPOSE  49 

and  he  comes  down  to  his  usual  level,  and  you  see  nothing 
but  a  lowering  scowl  against  God  and  man. 

I  do  not  wonder,  my  brethren,  that  the  church  is  a  scandal 
in  the  eyes  of  men,  and  that  they  say,  "  Look  here ;  I  beheve 
that  we  are  put  into  this  world  to  get  the  best  we  can  ;  you  give 
me  something  better  than  I  can  find  in  this  world  and  I  will 
take  it."  Beloved,  we  have  the  best  thing  both  for  this  world 
and  for  the  next  if  we  take  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  all  his  full- 
ness and  say  Amen  to  every  promise  of  God  which  is  wrapped 
up  in  him. 

God  would  have  us  step  out  of  that  dark  and  terribly  dis- 
tressful compromising  life  into  light  and  liberty,  if  we  only  will. 
In  these  words  of  God  to  Moses  there  is  a  solemn  warning  to 
ministers.  The  ministers  are  at  fault,  because  they  stand  be- 
tween God  and  the  people  in  an  attitude  of  non-expectation, 
and  are  thus  the  cause  of  the  people's  unbelief.  Brothers,  the 
people  will  never  be  above  the  ministry ;  and  when  the  minis- 
try are  thinking  about  their  provision  in  this  world,  and  about 
the  opinion  of  their  neighbors,  there  never  will  be  power.  We 
must  shake  off  the  thraldom  of  men's  opinion ;  we  must  not 
care  if  our  neighbor  So-and-so  does  take  all  that  run  away  from 
us  because  they  will  not  receive  the  fullness  of  the  blessing  of 
the  gospel.  Twenty  sanctified  people  in  a  church  are  better 
and  more  powerful  for  good  than  two  thousand  nondescript 
who  are  living  a  half-and-half  life.  Rise  now,  my  brothers, 
to  the  privilege  you  have  in  God,  and  to  the  responsibility  of 
your  position  as  ministers  of  God  to  the  people. 

There  came  a  time  in  the  experience  of  God's  chosen  peo- 
ple Israel  when  they  were  in  bondage  to  idolatry  and  to  the 
world,  and  under  the  curse  of  the  flesh.  God's  pity  was  so 
great  that  he  said  that  he  must  go  down  and  give  them  salva- 
tion. There  are,  in  this  connection,  three  series  of  sevens 
which  are  brought  out  in  a  remarkable  way  by  the  Holy 
Ghost. 


50  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

There  are  the  seven  steps  toward  delivera?ice  as  described  in 
the  second  chapter  of  Exodus  (vs.  23-25). 

The  children  of  Israel  sighed  by  reason  of  the  bond- 
age." 

*  They  cried." 

'Their  cry  came  up  unto  God  by  reason  of  the  bond- 


3 

age 

4 
5 


God  heard  their  groanings." 

God  remembered  his  covenant  with  Abraham,  with 
Isaac,  and  with  Jacob."  He  remembers  it  now  with  Christ 
in  the  same  way. 

6.  "  God  looked  upon  the  children  of  Israel." 

7.  "God  had  respect  unto  them"  ("God  knew  them,"  is 
the  margin). 

God  has  looked  down  upon  the  people  of  the  church  to- 
day, and  he  has  pity  for  those  who  groan  in  bondage.  He  is 
come  down  in  pity  to  bring  a  blessing  to  the  poor,  fallen,  help- 
less bond-slaves  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  But 
how  is  he  to  bring  salvation  to  them?  He  must  appear  in  a 
burning  bush;  and  the  man  to  whom  he  appears  becomes 
Moses — one  "  drawn  out "  from  the  people,  drawn  out  from 
destruction,  drawn  out  from  the  world,  drawn  out  to  be  a 
soul-shepherd  for  the  people  whom  God  has  appointed  to  be 
blessed.  Moses  represents  the  ministry  to  which  you  are  called 
if  you  are  God's  servant.  Have  you  ever  felt  like  drawing  back 
from  the  high  honor  that  was  given  to  you,  not  of  preaching 
a  bright  sermon,  but  of  ministering  to  God's  people?  Many 
a  man  likes  to  preach  a  brilliant  sermon,  but  that  is  not  doing 
God's  work.  The  sermon  that  will  carry  weight  is  the  sermon 
that  is  spoken  from  a  man's  own  experience. 

God  knew  Israel,  and  Israel  was  to  know  God.  Moses  was 
called,  but  he  did  not  know  God  yet,  and  so  Moses  became 
an  absolute  failure  at  the  outset  of  his  ministry.  If  you  have 
failed  it  is  because  you  had  not  faith  to  take  the  Word  of  God 


THE  DIVINE  PURPOSE  51 

in  its  entirety  and  to  go  and  deliver  it  in  its  power  to  those  in 
the  bondage  of  sin.  God  said  to  Moses,  "  I  have  surely  seen 
the  affliction  of  my  people ;  .  .  .  and  I  am  come  down  to 
deliver  them.  .  .  .  Come  now  therefore,  and  I  will  send  thee 
unto  Pharaoh." 

But  now  Moses  makes  sevefi  excuses — the  same  that  men 
are  making  who  are  called  to  the  ministry  to-day.  He  says 
(Exod.  iii.  i  i-vi.  12) : 

1.  "Who  am  I,  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh  ?"  Am  I 
anything  of  a  minister  ? 

2.  "Behold,  when  I  come  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
shall  say  unto  them,  The  God  of  your  fathers  hath  sent  me 
unto  you;  and  they  shall  say  to  me,  What  is  his  name?  what 
shall  I  say  unto  them?  "  As  long  as  a  man  needs  to  ask  who 
is  the  Lord  who  sent  him,  he  never  will  have  any  power  in  the 
service  of  God. 

3.  "  Behold,  they  will  not  believe  me,  nor  hearken  unto  my 
voice :  for  they  will  say.  The  Lord  hath  not  appeared  unto 
thee."  If  you  cannot  prove  beyond  doubt  that  the  Lord  has 
appeared  unto  you,  you  will  have  no  power. 

4.  "  O  my  Lord,  I  am  not  eloquent,  neither  heretofore,  nor 
since  thou  hast  spoken  unto  thy  servant ;  but  I  am  slow  of 
speech,  and  of  a  slow  tongue."  A  very  good  thing ;  then  God 
will  get  the  glory  and  you  will  not.  When  God  takes  posses- 
sion of  a  slow  tongue  he  can  make  it  fast  if  he  wishes  to,  but 
you  will  get  no  credit  from  it. 

5.  Moses  now  comes  out  with  his  irritation  and  says,  "O 
my  Lord,  send,  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him  whom  thou 
wilt  send."  You  may  send  whom  you  like,  but  I  do  not  mean 
to  go  unless  I  am  compelled.  Of  course  you  do  not  carry 
any  weight.  A  grumbling  Sunday-school  teacher  says,  "  I 
have  to  obey  my  minister  because  he  wants  me  to  be  a  teacher  ; 
but  I  am  busy  with  other  things,  and  I  suppose  that  if  I  look 
at  the  lesson  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  before  Sunday- 


52  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

school,  that  will  be  all  that  is  necessary."     No ;  you  must  go 
wilHngly  and  faithfully  because  the  Lord  sends  you. 

6.  "  Moses  returned  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  .  .  .  Why  is 
it  that  thou  hast  sent  me?  "  Calling  God  to  account— a  nice 
state  of  things  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven ! 

7.  ''  Moses  said  before  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  am  of  uncircum- 
cised  lips ;  and  how  shall  Pharaoh  hearken  unto  me  ?  "  Do 
you  expect  to  conquer  the  devil  ?  Are  you  quite  certain  that 
you  are  going  to  bring  the  people  to  whom  you  preach  out  of 
bondage  ?  A  fine  sermon  ;  what  is  the  result  ?  A  good  deal 
of  credit,  perhaps,  in  the  secular  press,  but  how  much  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven?  How  much  to  the  glory  of  God  comes 
from  your  lips  ?  Moses  never  carried  any  weight  either  with 
Pharaoh  or  with  Israel  up  to  this  point.  It  was  necessary  for 
him  to  come  back  to  God  and  say,  "  Israel  does  not  believe ; 
Pharaoh  does  not  care  for  me ;  I  have  made  no  impression 
upon  the  kingdom  of  the  devil,  or  the  people  with  whom  I  have 
come  in  contact."  God  had  used  Aaron  as  a  mouthpiece ;  but 
then  Aaron  dropped  out  and  Moses  came  in,  because  he  began 
to  expect  deliverance  for  the  people  to  whom  he  was  sent. 

Now  we  come  to  the  circumstances  under  which  people  are 
blessed.  Naturally,  when  we  look  at  their  circumstances,  we 
would  say  that  there  is  no  reason  to  expect  that  they  ever  can 
be  delivered  and  enjoy  the  fullness  of  life.  What  is  the  high- 
est expectation  of  the  church  at  large,  and  what  is  the  view 
that  the  world  gets  of  our  Christianity?  As  long  as  the  min- 
istry is  evangelical,  people  expect  that  they  may  have  forgive- 
ness of  sin  through  the  blood  of  Christ.  Believers  take  what 
they  call  a  position  of  service  to  the  Lord ;  but  more  grum- 
bhng  children  are  never  to  be  found  on  earth,  I  fear,  than  God's 
children.  They  look  forward  to  the  time  when  they  shall  go 
through  the  agony  of  death,  and  think  God  will  then  take  them 
to  heaven  and  all  will  be  well.     If  that  is  all  we  can  offer  I 


THE  DIVINE  PURPOSE  53 

do  not  wonder  that  the  outside  world  cares  nothing  for  our 
Christianity. 

Now  I  wish  to  show  you  what  God  means  his  children  to 
have.  When  God  speaks  the  wonderful  words  about  his 
promises  and  purposes  he  begins  by  saying  to  Moses — who 
has  made  a  failure  and  acknowledges  it—"  Now  shalt  thou  see 
what  /  will  do."  That  takes  the  shine  out  of  the  ministry, 
does  it  not  ?     But  it  is  such  a  blessing  ! 

The  first  man  I  ever  knew  brought  to  Christ  through  my 
ministry  was  a  village  laborer  who  was  dying  of  consump- 
tion. I  attended  him  day  after  day  for  weeks,  and  found  him 
ripening  in  grace  very  rapidly.  At  last,  knowing  that  he  was 
near  his  end,  I  thought  that  I  should  like  to  know  what  words 
of  mine  had  been  the  means  of  bringing  him  to  know  the  Lord. 
I  thought  that  I  should  remember  those  words,  and  might  use 
them  again  with  great  effect.  So  one  day,  with  a  sneaking  pit- 
apat in  my  heart,  I  said,  "  John,  I  am  so  glad  that  you  are  near 
home ;  but  you  have  never  told  me  what  it  was  that  brought 
you  to  know  the  Lord  [I  was  a  crafty  man  that  day].  AVould 
you  hke  to  tell  me  before  I  go?  It  might  help  me."  What 
a  liar  the  devil  is!  "  Well,  sir,"  he  said,  "  I  will  tell  you.  Do 
you  remember  once  when  you  gave  out  a  hymn  the  organ 
would  not  go,  but  began  to  grunt,*  and  you  stopped  and  said 
we  would  sing  a  hymn  without  the  organ?  You  gave  out  *  Rock 
of  Ages,'  and  Lord  A'mighty,  how  you  did  bellow  it,  sir!  It 
went  bang  through  me  and  knocked  me  all  to  pieces,  and  from 
that  day  I  began  to  be  a  Christian."  There  is  the  power  of 
the  kingdom  of  God,  when  the  Lord  uses  a  man  who  is  not 
eloquent,  but  is  a  fool  !  It  took  all  the  shine  out  of  my  ser- 
mon ;  and  I  pray  God  that  it  may  take  the  shine  out  of  the 

*  We  had  one  of  those  organs  in  the  country  that  used  to  be  worked 
by  the  hand,  and  it  got  squeaky  sometimes  when  it  was  damp,  and  would 
not  work. 


54  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

ministry,  and  make  them  feel  that  it  is  due  to  God,  and  not 
man,  when  the  blessing  comes. 

God  said  to  Moses,  "  Now  thou  shalt  see  what  I  will  do." 
He  says  four  times  in  this  one  passage  (Exod.  vi.  2-8),  "  I 
am  the  Lord."  This  is  the  first  thing  that  Moses  must  under- 
stand. The  people  knew  God  as  Elohim  (the  Creator)  and  as 
El  Shaddai  (God  Almighty) ;  but  they  did  not  know  him  as 
Jehovah,  I  AM,  the  Lord,  the  self-determined  Eternal  One. 
Now  he  says,  "  I  am  the  Lord,"  and,  "  They  shall  know  that 
I  am  the  Lord." 

Now,  then,  see  what  the  Lord,  Jehovah,  can  do.  You  have 
thought  that  you  must  lead  a  respectable  life  because  you  are 
the  redeemed  of  the  Lord,  but,  after  all,  it  is  hard  bondage. 
A  minister  says,  "  I  wish  I  might  go  into  society.  My  wife 
says,  '  Don't  you  think  you  are  a  little  too  straight-laced  in 
your  ideas?  Don't  you  think,  for  the  sake  of  the  girls,  that 
we  ought  to  have  a  little  more  of  fashionable  society?  '  "  The 
church  in  this  nineteenth  century  is  coming  down  to  the  level 
of  a  rotten  world,  and  yet  hopes  that  the  door  of  heaven  will 
be  open  at  last.  I  never  yet  knew  a  woman  who  went  out 
in  worldly  society  to  please  her  husband  and  under  the  plea 
that  she  might  thereby  save  him  who  succeeded  in  bringing 
that  husband  to  Christ.  But  I  have  known  a  husband  to  drag 
a  wife  down,  and  a  wife  to  drag  a  husband  down.  The  lower 
always  wins  when  it  comes  to  a  compromise  between  the 
Christian  and  the  world. 

Now  God  promises  seven  things — the  seven  "/wi//s"  of 
Jehovah  : 

I.  "I  will  bring  you  out  from  under  the  burdens  of  the 
Egyptians."  He  takes  the  people  from  their  own  bitter  experi- 
ence of  sin,  from  the  burdens  of  the  Egyptians.  Many  to-day 
are  groaning  in  agony  on  account  of  the  power  of  sin.  God 
gives  here  a  picture  of  salvation,  complete,  immediate,  lasting. 
The  burdens  of  the  Egyptians  are  very  heavy.     Pictures  con- 


THE  DIVINE  PURPOSE  55 

vince  us  of  this  with  regard  to  Israel ;  facts  convince  us  that 
with  Christians  and  the  world  at  large  the  burden  of  sin  is 
very  heavy. 

2.  "  I  will  rid  you  out  of  their  bondage."  God  never  meant 
us  to  say,  "  I  am  delivered  from  \}\q  paijis  ^axd  penalties  of  sin," 
and  yet  to  have  us  suffer  from  its  poiver.  He  takes  us  out 
from  the  bitter  pains  of  faUing,  and  from  the  lowest  condition 
into  which  we  are  likely  to  fall,  if  we  put  our  trust  in  him. 

3.  He  says,  "  I  will  redeem  you  with  a  stretched-out  arm." 
God's  redemption  is  now  completed. 

4.  "  I  will  take  you  to  me  for  a  people." 

5.  "I  will  be  to  you  a  God."  Have  you  ever  gone  through 
the  Scriptures  and  looked  at  every  text  in  which  those  words 
are  repeated  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  simile  or  by  com- 
parison? The  Bible  simply  teems  with  one  thought,  viz.,  that 
God  desires  to  take  men  to  himself  to  be  his  people,  that  he 
may  be  their  God.*     What  does  he  mean  by  this  ?     St.  Paul 

*  Look  at  Leviticus  xxvi.  12,  where  God  is  speaking  to  the  redeemed 
people  of  Israel,  and  says,  "  I  will  walk  among  you,  and  will  be  your  God, 
and  ye  shall  be  my  people."  But  what  are  the  conditions  ?  Look  at  the 
"  I  wills  "  of  that  chapter  :  "  If  ye  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  keep  my  com- 
mandments, and  do  them ;  then  I  will  give  you  rain  in  due  season ;  I  will 
give  peace ;  I  will  rid  evil  beasts  out  of  the  land ;  I  will  have  respect  unto 
you,  and  make  you  fruitful,  and  multiply  you,  and  establish  my  covenant 
with  you.  I  will  set  my  tabernacle  among  you.  I  will  walk  among  you, 
and  will  be  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people. "  Look  at  Jeremiah  xxxi. 
T^T, ;  after  Israel  has  fallen  away  and  been  brought  into  bondage  again,  the 
Lord  says,  "  This  shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house 
of  Israel ;  After  those  days  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and 
write  it  in  their  hearts  ;  and  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  peo- 
ple." In  chapter  xxxii.  36-44,  after  picturing  their  utter  degradation,  he 
says,  "  Now  therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  gather  them  out  of  all 
countries,  and  I  will  bring  them  again  unto  this  place,  and  I  will  cause 
them  to  dwell  safely :  and  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God : 
and  I  will  give  them  one  heart.  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with 
them,  that  I  will  not  turn  away  from  them ;  I  will  put  my  fear  in  their 


56  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

says  (2  Cor.  vi.  16)  that  God  has  one  covenant  to  make  with 
the  sanctified  church  :  that  he  will  be  their  God,  and  that  they 
shall  be  his  people.  It  means  that  if  we  are  God's  people  we 
look  up  to  him  and  think  that  there  is  never  a  want,  never  a 
desire,  that  God  will  not  satisfy  ;  there  is  no  prospect  that  God 
will  not  fulfil,  no  opportunity  that  God  will  not  enable  us  to 
use.  All  is  in  God's  power,  and  I  am  simply  to  trust  him,  and 
to  feel  that  God  is  my  God,  and  to  know  that  perfect  fulfil- 
ment of  God's  promises  must  come  according  to  the  measure 
of  my  faith. 

6.  Furthermore,  God  said,  "  I  will  bring  you  in  unto  the 
land,"  and 

7.  *'  I  will  give  it  you  for  a  heritage." 

We  have  been  redeemed,  hke  the  people  of  Israel,  from 

hearts.  I  will  rejoice  over  them  to  do  them  good,  and  I  will  plant  them 
in  this  land  assuredly  with  my  whole  heart  and  with  my  whole  soul.  For 
thus  saith  the  Lord ;  Like  as  I  have  brought  all  this  great  evil  upon  this 
people,  so  will  I  bring  upon  them  all  the  good  that  I  have  promised  them. 
I  will  cause  their  captivity  to  return,  saith  the  Lord."  It  all  hangs  on 
this :  "  They  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God." 

In  Ezekiel  xi.  19,  20,  God  says,  "  I  will  give  them  one  heart,  that  they 
may  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  keep  mine  ordinances,  and  do  them :  and 
they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God;"  and  in  chapter  xiv.  II, 
"  That  the  house  of  Israel  may  go  no  more  astray  from  me;  but  that  they 
may  be  my  people,  and  I  may  be  their  God."  God  is  gracious  in  every 
way.  Turn  to  chapter  xxxiv.  30,  where  God  says,  "  Thus  shall  they  know 
that  I  their  God  am  with  them,  and  that  they,  even  the  house  of  Israel, 
are  my  people ;  "  chapter  xxxvi.  28,  "  Ye  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I  gave 
to  your  fathers  ;  and  ye  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  your  God;"  and 
chapter  xxxvii.  23,  27,  "  I  will  save  them  out  of  all  their  dwelling-places, 
wherein  they  have  sinned,  and  will  cleanse  them  :  so  shall  they  be  my 
people,  and  I  will  be  their  God.  .  .  .  My  tabernacle  also  shall  be  with 
them  :  yea,  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people." 

Once  more  look  in  Hosea,  and  see  how  God  shows  his  one  purpose.  In 
chapter  i.  9,  he  says,  "  Call  his  name  Lo-ammi :  for  ye  are  not  my  people, 
and  I  will  not  be  your  God  ;"  in  chapter  ii.  23,  "I  will  say  to  them  which 
were  not  my  people,  Thou  art  my  people ;  and  they  shall  say,  Thou  art 
my  God."     The  same  promises  are  in  Zechariah. 


THE  DIVINE  PURPOSE  57 

the  wrath  of  God  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  have  been 
led  through  the  Red  Sea,  where  our  enemies  were  practically- 
drowned.  Every  man  who  seeks  to  have  contact  with  the  flesh 
is  putting  his  arm  across  the  Red  Sea  and  is  shaking  hands  with 
the  survivors  of  the  Egyptians— the  flesh— across  the  grave  of 
Christ.  Did  you  ever  think  when  you  made  a  compact  with 
the  flesh  that  you  had  to  go  over  the  buried  Son  of  God  in 
order  to  get  back  to  your  old  lusts  and  appetites?  A  man 
gives  way  to  temper  and  says,  "I  have  a  bad  temper;  I  was 
born  so  " — a  fine  excuse  for  one  who  has  been  reborn!  It  is 
a  new  life  that  must  now  be  hved ;  but  when  you  put  your 
hand  across  Christ's  grave,  no  wonder  that  Satan's  hand  is  a 
little  stronger  than  yours,  and  that  he  pulls  you  over.  Were 
you  redeemed  to  go  on  living  in  the  wilderness  forty  years, 
merely  supphed,  like  beggars,  every  day  with  bread  and  water  ? 
God  forbid!  He  never  lets  his  children  starve  to  death;  he 
manages  to  give  them  bread  and  water ;  but,  after  all,  it  is  a 
tasteless  supply  to  most  Christians.  What  is  this  manna?  In- 
sipid stuff  that  was  like  wafers  made  of  honey.  The  children 
of  Israel  disliked  it  on  their  part,  and  so  do  most  Christians. 
They  travel  for  forty  years  in  the  howling  wilderness,  and  with 
clothes  very  much  patched  up.  There  is  something  better  by 
far  than  the  old  bondage  of  Egypt  or  the  compact  with  the 
flesh;  there  is  something  better  far  to  be  lived  than  merely 
lingering  on  in  a  howling  wilderness,  supplied  with  bread  and 
water  to  keep  one  alive,  but  not  coming  into  the  privilege  and 
choice  of  the  home.     I  used  to  sing  as  a  boy : 

"  Could  I  but  stand  where  Moses  stood, 
And  view  the  landscape  o'er, 
Not  Jordan's  stream  nor  death's  cold  flood 
Could  fright  me  from  the  shore." 

Of  course  Jordan  there  means  death  and  the  shore  of  Canaan 
is  heaven.  But  are  you  going  to  fight  forever  when  you  get  to 
heaven?    Yet  all  the  children  of  Israel's  proper  fighting  was  in 


58  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

Canaan,  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan.  Canaan  cannot,  then, 
stand  as  a  type  of  heaven.  When  it  is  perfected,  and  when  the 
Lord  comes  down  to  establish  the  New  Jerusalem  on  earth,  it 
may  be  like  heaven  on  earth,  but  it  will  not  be  heaven  above. 
No ;  Canaan  means  the  hfe  which  God  offers  his  children 
here— a  hfe  of  perpetual  victory  like  that  at  Jericho,  as  long  as 
there  is  no  concealing  of  the  cursed  thing  in  the  camp.  It  is 
a  Hfe  of  perpetual  supply  with  pomegranates  and  grapes  and 
the  corn  of  the  land ;  it  is  a  life  in  which  the  enemy  vanishes 
or  bows  down  before  us  with  humility.  "  In  all  these  things 
we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us." 
You  have  not  expected  to  conquer.  You  expected  tempta- 
tion and  it  came,  and  you  fell  because  you  did  not  look  for 
the  victory  God  was  ready  to  give  you. 

Brethren,  God  has  given  you  a  sevenfold  proniise  of  bless- 
ing— to  rid  you,  redeem  you,  bring  you  out,  then  to  carry  you 
safely  into  the  land,  and  to  give  it  to  you  as  an  inheritance. 
When  you  think  it  is  too  good  to  be  true  you  may  hear  his 
voice  saying,  "  I  am  the  Lord." 

A  dear  old  woman  lay  dying,  and  an  infidel  came  in  to  scoff 
at  her,  and  said,  "They  tell  me  that  you  are  not  afraid  to 
die,  and  are  very  happy."  "Yes,  thank  God."  "Do  you 
beheve  in  a  God?"  "Yes,  I  do."  "Do  you  beheve  that 
God  punishes  sin?"  "Yes,  I  do."  Then  the  infidel  said, 
tauntingly,  "  I  should  like  to  know  how  you  are  happy,  for 
if  there  ever  was  a  bad  old  woman  in  the  parish  you  are  one. 
If  what  you  say  could  be  believed  it  would  be  a  great  deal 
too  good  to  be  true."  She  looked  him  in  the  face  and  said, 
"It  is,  sir;  it  is,  sir;  it  is  a  great  deal  too  good  to  be  true; 
but,  bless  the  Lord,  it  is  true  for  all  that."  Beloved,  God's 
promises  and  God's  gifts  are  a  gi-eat  deal  too  good  to  be  true  ; 
but,  bless  the  Lord,  they  are  true  for  all  that. 


THE    SIN    OF   UNBELIEF 


"  Yea,  they  despised  the  pleasant  land,  they  believed  not  his  word:  but 
murmured  in  their  tents,  and  hearkened  not  unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord." 
—  Psalm  cvi.  24,  25. 

WHEN  Moses,  in  making  his  excuses  before  God  at  the 
burning  bush  (Exod.  iii.  14),  asked  God  what  he  was 
to  say  if  the  people  inquired  the  name  of  the  God  who  had 
sent  him  unto  them,  God  told  him  to  reply,  "  I  AM  THAT  I 
AM :    ...   I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 

In  the  I  AM  of  God  lies  the  fullness  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
Our  Lord  said  in  his  closing  high-priestly  prayer  that  eternal 
hfe  is  to  "know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  thou  hast  sent."  Until  men  know  the  Lord,  no  wonder 
that  they  turn  away  from  him.  In  the  prophets  Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, Hosea  and  Zechariah,  there  is  found  repeatedly  the  won- 
derful truth  that  to  know  the  Lord  is  all  that  is  required  of  man, 
and  comprises  all  the  possibilities  of  the  blessed  life.  Israel 
sinned  for  want  of  knowledge ;  they  were  blessed  and  em- 
powered in  having  knowledge.  St.  Paul  likewise  tells  the 
Gentiles  who  accepted  the  gospel  of  Christ  that  they  must 
know  God,  and  that  if  only  they  knew  him  in  the  truest  sense 
they  would  come  to  the  fullness  of  blessing.  St.  Peter  also 
enjoins  those  to  whom  he  wrote  to  "  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  this 
knowledge  that  brings  power  and  enables  us  to  enter  into  the 

59 


6o  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

life  of  possession,  peace,  and  power.  But  how  is  it  to  be 
obtained  ? 

We  read  that  even  after  Israel  had  been  delivered  from 
Egypt,  and  had  been  brought  safely  across  the  Red  Sea,  and 
had  been  face  to  face  with  God  at  Mount  Sinai,  they  abso- 
lutely "despised  the  pleasant  land."  God  did  not  charge 
them  to  go  forward  into  Canaan  until  he  had  manifested  him- 
self to  them  at  Mount  Sinai.  There  he  met  them  in  majesty, 
in  divine  holiness ;  he  revealed  unto  them  the  demands  of  God 
upon  his  creatures.  They  shrank  back,  and  from  that  mo- 
ment were  practically  lost ;  not  lost  eternally,*  perhaps,  but 
Israel  lost  their  privileges,  lost  their  powers,  lost  their  posses- 
sions, simply  because,  when  God  revealed  himself  to  them  in 
holiness,  they  shrank  back  because  of  their  carnal  heart ;  they 
did  not  believe  God  and  would  not  accept  him,  and  therefore 
they  lost  the  land  and  all  that  it  represented.  They  lost, 
brethren,  exactly  what  we  as  Christians  should  most  desire ; 
namely,  personal  enjoyment  and  privilege  and  peace  and 
power  in  our  homes,  and  the  glorious  privilege  of  winning 
souls  for  heaven.    We  will  lose  it  all  if  we  dare  to  doubt  God. 

Though  we  read  that  the  children  of  Israel  despised  the 
pleasant  land,  it  is  impossible  that  they  did  not  desire  the  land.f 

*  The  vision  of  Israel,  which  is  a  type  of  the  Christian's  spiritual  life, 
never  carries  us  beyond  this  present  world ;  and  while  all  Israel  died  in 
the  wilderness,  that  does  not  imply  that  they  were  lost  eternally.  Their 
history  represents  the  vision  of  the  life  that  now  is ;  there  is  scarcely  a 
passage  in  Israel's  history  that  is  typical  of  the  life  beyond  the  grave. 

A  friend  once  said  to  me  that  heaven  meant  Canaan,  and  that  every 
man  who  died  outside  of  Canaan  must  have  been  eternally  lost.  I  replied, 
"  Were  Moses  and  Aaron  lost  eternally?  "  He  said,  "  I  am  driven  to  the 
sad  conclusion  that  they  must  have  been."  He  was  a  learned  man  of  high 
standing  in  the  Church  of  England,  but  that  theory  drops  immediately 
when  you  bring  Moses  and  Aaron  into  perdition,  for  Moses  appeared  with 
our  Lord  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration. 

t  It  is  "  a  land  of  desire  "  in  the  original. 


THE  SIN  OF  UNBELIEF  6i 

But  something  hindered  them  from  taking  possession  of  it, 
though  they  wished  to  enter.  There  is  something  hindering 
many  Christians  to-day  from  entering  into  the  hfe  or  land  of 
privilege,  power,  and  possession  which  God  offers  to  us. 

What  is  the  hindrance  ?  "  They  beheved  not  his  word." 
They  were  guilty  at  that  moment  of  what  must  be  termed  the 
very  acme  of  man's  iniquity,  for  unbelief  is  virtually  to  say  in 
God's  very  face,  "  Thou  art  a  liar."  It  is  a  solemn  fact  that 
whenever  we  doubt  God's  word  we  either  make  God  a  liar,  or 
we  make  ourselves  a  Har,  or  we  make  the  devil  a  liar.  If  God 
be  true,  then  man  must  be  a  har  and  the  devil  a  har  whenever 
there  seems  to  be  an  impossibihty  of  our  attaining  to  what  God 
has  offered.  If  there  be  an  impossibility  of  such  attainment, 
then  God  must  be  a  liar.  Israel  made  God  a  liar,  because 
they  said,  "  The  land  is  desirable ;  it  is  that  for  which  we  left 
Egypt,  and  for  which  we  risked  being  slaughtered  by  Pharaoh's 
host ;  we  fled  with  joyful  anticipation  from  the  face  of  our 
enemies."  They  came  to  Kadesh-Barnea,  and  the  land  lay 
almost  within  sight.  They  might  have  entered  in  the  space 
of  a  few  hours  ;  but  because  there  were  difficulties  and  dangers 
to  be  encountered,  because  there  were  Anakim  and  cities 
walled  up  to  heaven  to  be  conquered,  they  said,  "  It  is  impos- 
sible for  men  like  us  to  enter  into  such  a  place  of  privilege ;  it 
is  too  good  to  be  true."  Therefore  they  "  murmured  in  their 
tents,  and  hearkened  not  unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord."  They 
hearkened  to  their  own  cowardly  hearts,  they  hearkened  to 
their  neighbors'  words  and  to  the  false  spies  who  returned  with 
tales  of  the  mighty  Perizzites  and  Hivites  and  the  giants,  and 
they  turned  back  into  the  wilderness  and  left  the  very  gate  of 
privilege  to  which  they  had  come.  You  turn  away  and  lose 
forever  this  life  of  privilege  and  power  upon  earth,  even  though 
you  do  not  lose  your  soul. 

It  is  an  awful  thing  to  read  concerning  Israel  that  they 
dared  to  say  that  God  promised  what  even  he  could  not  fulfil. 


62  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

It  is  all  the  more  striking,  since  we  read  a  few  verses  before 
(Ps.  cvi.  12),  "Then  beheved  they  his  words ;  they  sang  his 
praise."  The  contrast  is  striking:  at  one  moment  they  say, 
"  We  beheve  God's  word,  and  we  will  sing  his  praises ;  "  the 
next  moment  they  murmur  in  their  tents,  and  hearken  not 
unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord.  They  believed  some  things  and 
doubted  others ;  they  beheved  what  they  saw,  but  disbelieved 
what  they  were  offered ;  they  believed  what  they  had  known 
to  be  accomplished,  while  they  doubted  the  fulfilment  of  what 
God  offered  for  the  future.     Mark  the  depth  of  wickedness. 

God  is  revealed  to  the  children  of  Israel— the  child  type 
for  the  great  antitype  of  the  church — under  the  title  I  AM. 
God  revealed  himself  as  Jehovah,  him  with  whom  there  is 
no  past,  present,  or  future.  His  people  are  to  see  in  him  one 
everlasting  certainty  of  omniscience,  omnipotence,  and  om- 
nipresence. They  are  never  for  one  instant  to  believe  that 
there  can  be  any  difference  between  a  fact  accomplished  in 
the  past,  and  of  which  there  is  perfect  certainty,  and  one  prom- 
ised for  the  remote  future.  The  same  God  who  brought  about 
the  one  undertakes  to  bring  about  the  other.  The  moment  a 
man  doubts  the  unknown  future  he  has  boldly  said  to  his  God, 
"  Thou  liest,"  and  it  is  the  one  sin  for  which  there  is  no  sal- 
vation. Murder,  incest,  any  sin  except  the  sin  of  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  God's  witness  to  truth,  can  be  forgiven. 
Israel  sinned  because  they  did  not  truly  know  God  as  I  AM. 
They  never  could  realize  that  they  were  dealing  with  one  to 
whom  past,  present,  and  future  are  absolutely  one ;  therefore 
they  doubted  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  refused  the  pleasant 
land  ;  they  deigned  to  accept  what  God  had  accomplished,  but 
they  dared  to  doubt  what  God  had  promised. 

Let  us  see  what  it  is  that  has  hindered  so  many  from  enter- 
ing into  the  life  of  liberty,  the  life  of  joy,  the  life  of  peace, 
the  hfe  of  power,  the  life  of  certainty,  the  hfe  of  calm,  restful 
holiness,  and  such  rich  privileges  as  might  make  the  very  forces 


THE  SIN  OF  UNBELIEF  6^ 

of  the  enemy  yearn  to  be  like  us.  Why  do  we  not  show  it  to 
them?  It  is  because  we  doubt  our  God  as  to  the  future.  When 
Israel  believed  God's  word  they  sang  his  praises.  What  did 
they  beheve  ?  The  psalm  tells  us  that  God  overthrew  the  Egyp- 
tians in  the  Red  Sea,  and  that  Israel  stood  on  the  eastern  shore 
completely  delivered  from  the  power  of  their  enemies.  They 
saw  the  Egyptians  dead  upon  the  seashore,  and  then  Israel 
believed  the  Lord  and  his  servant  Moses.  That  is  very  kind 
and  very  noble,  is  it  not,  to  beheve  my  God  exactly  as  far  as 
I  can  see  him !  I  treat  a  thief  like  that ;  I  trust  him  just  as 
far  as  I  can  prove  his  word  to  be  true.  When  he  says,  "  I 
have  not  your  watch,"  if  I  feel  it  in  my  own  pocket  I  say, 
"Thank  you,  I  beheve  you."  That  is  faith  in  God!  Of 
course  men  do  not  mean  what  their  actions  imply,  but  they 
act  unbelief  nevertheless.  God  had  accomplished  some  mag- 
nificent works  for  Israel :  he  had  put  them  safe  on  the  shore 
and  had  thrown  their  enemy  in  the  sea.  They  sounded  his 
praises  and  sang : 

"  Sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously: 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 

But  the  very  next  words  in  the  psalm  are,  "  They  began  to 
lust  exceedingly."  Why?  Because  (verse  13)  "they  waited 
not  for  his  counsel."  The  one  way  to  obtain  God's  blessing  is 
to  wait  on  the  Lord.  Israel  sinned  in  that  they  believed  God 
as  far  as  they  could  see ;  but  they  waited  not  for  his  counsel, 
and  so  they  lusted  exceedingly  in  the  wilderness,  and  tempted 
God  in  the  desert ;  they  limited  the  Holy  One  in  Israel.  From 
that  moment  back  they  went  into  a  life  of  distress,  instead  of 
entering  into  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  God 
gave  them  bread  and  water— we  give  our  prisoners  that— but 
they  never  were  satisfied.  I  doubt  if  any  man  could  be  quite 
satisfied  with  mere  bread  and  water,  whether  material  or 
spiritual.     All  those  died  in  the  wilderness,  though  not  for 


64  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

damnation,  of  course.  But  they  perished  in  this  world,  with 
never  an  hour  of  rich  possession  in  God's  beautiful  kingdom 
such  as  they  might  have  had.  They  disbeheved  his  word, 
and  so  did  not  take  the  pleasant  land  which  God  offered  them. 
They  said,  "  It  is  too  good  to  be  true,  too  good  to  be  true," 
and  they  lost  it. 

Many  men  and  women  have  been  for  years  members  of 
evangelical  churches,  generous  supporters,  deacons,  elders,  or 
possibly  ministers.  For  many  years  I  was  a  minister  and  a 
faithful  preacher  of  the  doctrine  of  justification,  but  I  had  no 
joy  for  every  moment,  no  rest  in  the  midst  of  trouble,  no  calm 
amid  the  burdens  of  this  life ;  I  was  strained  and  overstrained 
until  I  felt  that  I  was  breaking  down.  I  could  believe  the 
doctrine  of  justification  because  I  saw  the  facts  in  God's 
Book ;  I  believed  that  it  was  accomplished  because  it  was  his- 
tory ;  but  when  God  said,  "  I  can  keep  thee  and  bless  thee 
every  moment,"  it  seemed  too  good  to  be  true.  Thus  a  min- 
ister goes  on  in  his  self-energized  efforts,  seeking  calm  and  rest 
and  strength,  and  the  consequence  is  perpetual  fret,  perpetual 
wear  and  tear,  a  life  of  strain  instead  of  a  life  of  calm,  a  grad- 
ual breaking  down  where  there  ought  to  be  a  building  up,  all 
because  men  do  not  beheve  God's  word.  Do  not  suppose 
that  I  despised  the  promised  land.  I  wished  for  peace,  for 
rest,  for  joy  and  calm.  Oh  for  the  rest  of  faith!  May  God 
take  us  into  the  land  of  peace  and  give  us  the  holy  power  of 
God. 

Israel  failed— failed  from  lack  of  faith,  because  they  did 
not  know  and  believe  in  God  as  the  I  AM.  Now  faith  has 
two  distinct  fields  of  action,  or  is  of  two  kinds,  w^hich  we  may 
call  retrospective  faith  and  prospective  faith.  Retrospec- 
tive faith  pertains  to  the  past,  and  requires  authentic  and  reh- 
able  evidence ;  the  one  thing  necessary  is  to  sift  and  test  the 
testimony  offered,  and  when  one  is  entirely  satisfied  with  regard 
to  the  record,  doubt  as  to  its  truth  is  banished.    Not  one  of  us 


THE  SIN  OF  UNBELIEF  65 

doubts  that  certain  men  and  women,  entitled  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
came  over  from  England  and  settled  in  America,  because  of 
the  strength  of  what  we  call  the  testimony  of  the  past.  We 
are  simply  believing  records  which  have  been  proved  to  be  true. 

Faith  in  regard  to  the  future,  or  prospective  faith,  comes  in  a 
different  way.  It  comes  from  belief  in  certain  promises  in  re- 
gard to  which  one  can  only  ask  that  the  person  making  the 
promises  shall  be  credible,  shall  be  capable,  and  shall  be  will- 
ing. In  regard  to  man  it  is  perfectly  lawful  to  believe  the 
past  and  to  doubt  the  future.  A  man  who  did  a  great  kind- 
ness for  me  a  month  ago  may  promise  that  he  will  provide  for 
every  want  I  have  in  the  future ;  but  I  am  at  perfect  liberty 
to  doubt  either  his  continued  wiHingness  or  his  continued  abil- 
ity to  fulfil  that  promise,  even  though  I  do  not  doubt  his  good 
intentions.  With  regard  to  God  it  is  entirely  different.  We 
have  no  right  to  distinguish  between  past  and  future,  for  God 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  Does  he  undertake 
to  keep  me  without  one  spot  or  blemish?  Then  the  same  God 
who  did  the  work  in  the  past  must  be  trusted  with  regard  to 
the  future,  and  we  are  bound  to  step  out  as  confidently  on  the 
future  as  we  rest  on  the  past,  or  else  we  are  making  God  a  liar. 

Now  notice  the  results  of  these  two  kinds  of  faith.  If  I  am 
convinced  by  the  Word  of  God  that  Christ  has  paid  the  pen- 
alty for  me  and  has  brought  me  into  a  position  of  acceptance 
with  the  Father,  that  everything  is  accomplished  for  my  salva- 
tion, the  instant  result  is  that,  without  one  shadow  of  doubt  or 
fear,  my  soul  rests  in  the  calm  delight  of  being  accepted  in  the 
Beloved.  I  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  if  I  am  resting  in 
Christ ;  he  has  accomplished  it  all  for  me.  In  the  same  way, 
as  I  look  out  into  the  unknown  future  and  consider  the  Hfe  to 
be  hved,  if  I  beheve  the  living  God  as  confidently  in  regard 
to  the  future  as  in  regard  to  the  past,  I  go  forward  as  con- 
fidently in  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  that  there  is  danger  in  this  teach- 


66  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

ing  of  our  leaning  to  passivity  and  quietism  or  mysticism ;  that 
people  may  be  led  to  do  nothing  but  to  sit  still  and  say,  "  The 
Lord  reigns;  let  him  act."  Nay,  nay;  if  I  believe  that  the 
future  is  conditioned  by  the  promises  of  God,  I  step  out  on 
those  promises  and  act  vigorously,  but  act  calmly ;  act  con- 
stantly, but  in  a  sense  without  effort,  because  of  the  provisions 
of  strength  which  God  has  made  for  me  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Take  an  illustration  from  daily  life.  Suppose  that  your  wife 
or  child  is  suddenly  discovered  to  be  in  a  burning  house.  In 
an  instant  every  fiber  of  your  being  is  at  work  to  rescue  that 
loved  one  from  danger.  Your  soul  is  in  agony  for  fear  that 
you  will  not  be  in  time.  Suddenly  some  one  comes  from  the 
other  side  of  the  house  and  says,  "  It  is  all  right ;  your  wife  is 
perfectly  safe."  You  beheve  it  in  an  instant,  throw  down  the 
ax  which  you  have  been  using  to  gain  an  entrance,  hasten  to 
the  other  side  of  the  house,  and  embrace  your  beloved.  You 
turn  to  her  savior,  wring  his  hand,  and  say,  "  Bless  the  Lord  ! 
My  brother,  I  thank  thee."  You  rest;  it  is  done.  On  the 
other  hand,  let  there  be  the  future.  The  doctor  says  that  re- 
covery is  certain  if  you  can  only  keep  the  beloved  one  quiet  in 
her  critical  illness.  Now  every  nerve  of  your  being  is  exercised 
to  act,  but  it  is  action  to  bring  about  quiet.  You  simply  rely 
on  the  word  of  the  doctor,  although  he  is  but  human.  You 
trust  him,  and  in  proportion  as  you  trust  you  rest.  Yet  you 
act  with  every  nerve  of  your  being  to  prepare  the  best  food, 
to  provide  the  needed  money— always  quietly  and  peacefully. 
The  very  promise  of  the  physician  compels  definite  action, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tidings  of  past  truths  bring  the 
quiet  of  inaction. 

So  is  it  with  regard  to  the  soul.  The  two  great  spheres  of 
the  soul  are  the  past  and  the  future,  the  future  involving  the 
present,  being  made  up  of  moments  like  the  present.  You  be- 
heve that  Christ  died  for  you ;  that  he  has  wrought  out  your 
salvation  and  has  finished  it.    But  what  about  the  future?   Are 


THE  SIN  OF  UNBELIEF  67 

you  stepping  out  in  calm  and  perfect  confidence  ?  Are  you 
going  about  your  daily  work  in  a  holy  rest  that  never  is  broken? 
Are  you  perfectly  sure  that  you  have  joy  in  the  Lord  at  every 
moment  of  your  life  ?  Can  you  go  forward  with  unbroken 
rest  and  peace  and  power,  ready  to  say,  come  what  may, 
"  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul :  and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless 
his  holy  name"?  Oh,  be  honest!  You  cannot  get  this  life 
for  which  you  are  longing  if  you  are  too  proud  of  your  own 
position  as  a  pastor  or  a  great  millionaire  or  an  employer  or 
father  or  mother ;  if  you  are  too  proud  to  make  confession  you 
will  never  get  this  blessing— never.  You  must  bow  down  if 
you  would  be  Hfted  up ;  you  must  take  the  place  of  the  poor 
helpless  one  and  see  the  great  I  AM,  and  then  you  will  receive 
the  blessing. 

It  may  be  helpful  to  some  to  know  how  the  Lord  brought 
this  blessing  to  me  and  showed  me  the  hfe  of  privilege. 
Twenty-one  years  ago  my  wife  and  I  went  to  the  seaside. 
We  were  poor  and  had  several  children.  It  was  the  year  of 
the  Oxford  convention ;  and  on  the  day  on  which  it  opened  I 
met  Sir  Arthur  Blackwood,  and  after  we  had  talked  awhile  he 
said,  "Do  you  know  about  the  Oxford  convention?  "  I  was 
a  country  clergyman  then,  and  had  not  heard  of  it.  He  said, 
"  People  are  coming  together  there  to  seek  for  a  blessing,  to 
pray  for  the  life  of  rest."  He  looked  me  in  the  face  and  said, 
"  Have  you  rest?  "  I  replied,  "  Yes,  thank  God."  He  said, 
"  What  do  you  understand  by  rest?  "  "  I  mean  that  my  sins 
are  forgiven,  that  I  am  accepted  in  the  Beloved,  that  God  will 
somehow  take  care  of  me  in  this  world,  and  receive  me  when 
I  die."  He  said,  "  I  thought  you  would  say  that ;  but  do  you 
know  what  it  is  to  have  perfect  rest  in  the  midst  of  duties  and 
difficulties,  to  have  a  joy  that  never  is  broken  at  any  moment 
of  your  life,  to  have  a  calm  that  is  never  inten'upted,  and  to 
have  a  strength  for  every  duty,  with  a  sense  of  repose  in  the 
living  God?"     I  said,  "No;  I  would  to  God  I  had;  that  is 


68  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

what  I  long  for  most."  He  said,  *'  So  do  I.  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  will  do.  A  friend  is  to  send  me  every  day  an  account 
of  the  convention,  and  every  morning  we  will  go  into  the 
woods  and  read  it.  God  can  give  us  a  blessing  here  as  well 
as  at  Oxford." 

Four  days  afterward  my  little  child  that  was  with  us  at  the 
seashore  was  taken  sick  and  died.  I  had  to  carry  the  httle 
coffin  in  my  arms  all  the  way  home,  where  I  buried  my  little 
one  with  my  own  hands.  I  returned  from  the  burial  and  said 
to  myself,  "  Now  you  have  lost  your  holiday,  have  come  home 
in  trouble,  and  you  must  speak  to  your  people  instead  of  let- 
ting your  curate  speak ;  you  would  better  tell  them  about  God 
and  his  love."  I  looked  to  see  what  lesson  was  assigned  for 
the  Sunday,  and  found  it  was  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Second 
Corinthians.  I  read  the  ninth  verse,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee,"  and  thought,  "  There  is  the  verse  to  speak  on."  I 
sat  down  to  prepare  my  notes,  but  soon  found  myself  murmur- 
ing in  my  tent  against  God  for  all  he  called  upon  me  to  bear. 
I  flung  down  my  pen,  threw  myself  on  my  knees,  and  said  to 
God,  "It  is  not  sufficient,  it  is  not  sufficient!  Lord,  let  thy 
grace  be  sufficient.     O  Lord,  do!" 

The  day  before  I  had  left  home  my  mother  had  given  me 
a  beautiful  illuminated  text,  and  I  had  asked  the  servant  to 
hang  it  on  the  wall  over  my  table,  that  I  might  find  it  there 
when  I  came  back.  As  I  opened  my  eyes  I  was  saying,  *'  O 
God,  let  thy  grace  be  sufficient  for  me,"  and  there  on  the  wall 
I  saw, 

"my  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee." 

The  word  is  was  in  bright  green,  my  was  in  black,  and  thee  in 
black.  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."  I  heard  a  voice 
that  seemed  to  say  to  me,  "  You  fool,  how  daj-e  you  ask  God 
to  make  what  is!  Get  up  and  take,  and  you  will  find  it  true. 
When  God  says  *  is '  it  is  for  you  to  believe  him,  and  you  will 


THE  SIN  OF  UNBELIEF  69 

find  it  true  at  every  moment."  That  is  turned  my  life ;  from 
that  moment  I  could  say,  "  O  God,  whatever  thou  dost  say 
in  thy  Word  I  believe,  and,  please  God,  I  will  step  out  upon 
it."  The  very  farmers  began  to  say,  "  Mr.  Peploe  does  not 
seem  as  fidgety  as  he  used  to  be."  Men  of  business,  your 
clerks  will  say,  "  He  is  a  changed  man  now."  You  in  the  min- 
istry who  have  two  sermons  a  week  to  write,  does  it  wear  and 
tear  you  out?  Two  sermons  a  week  were  killing  me  then; 
now  fifteen  a  week  can  be  preached  where  God  wills.  I  may 
be  wearing  out — I  care  not  for  that — it  is  not  tearing  out. 

Brethren,  there  is  a  great  God,  and  he  is  I  AM ;  he  is  the 
Lord  Jehovah,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  Re- 
pose in  perfect  quietude  with  regard  to  the  past,  and  say, 
"  Saved  by  grace,  I  rest  behind  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  But 
also  look  at  the  future  and  have  faith  in  God's  promises ;  step 
out  into  a  life  of  privilege  and  possession.  Get  well  into  the 
promises  of  God ;  the  good  fruit  hes  in  the  center. 

Spurgeon,  in  speaking  to  medical  students  at  Exeter  Hall, 
once  told  of  a  friend  who  had  a  fine  orchard  of  apples.  One 
day  he  said  to  a  friend  who  was  with  him,  "  Come  down  into 
my  orchard,  will  you?  The  apples  are  just  ripe."  The  man 
repHed,  **  No,  thank  you,  not  to-day,"  and  walked  off  home. 
The  next  day  he  asked  him  again,  but  the  man  said,  "  No,  I 
thank  you ;  I  must  go  home."  Several  days  the  friend  asked 
him,  but  the  man  refused  as  before.  At  last  the  owner  of  the 
orchard  thought  something  must  be  the  matter,  for  he  knew 
that  his  friend  hked  apples.  He  asked  him  why  he  refused. 
The  man  said,  "  I  don't  know— I— I  don't  think  I  will  come." 
'*  What  is  the  matter  ?  Have  you  been  trying  the  apples 
along  the  edge?  "  He  said,  "To  tell  the  truth,  I  have,  and 
nastier  apples  I  never  tasted."  "Oh,"  the  other  said,  "you 
have  been  caught  by  that,  have  you  ?  I  planted  that  row  just 
to  deceive  people.  They  are  the  worst  lot  of  apples  I  could 
get ;   but  come  into  the  center  and  you  will  find  my  apples 


70  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

the  best  in  the  land."  Brethren,  get  into  the  heart  of  God's 
orchard.  Spurgeon  said :  "  Now  look  here,  you  fellows,  we 
must  have  some  action  on  your  part.  When  we  were  boys  we 
used  to  go  down  to  the  bathing-place,  and  some  of  us  were 
rather  afraid  to  go  in.  We  put  our  toes  in  and  said,  *  It  is 
awful  cold;'  and  suddenly  a  fellow  would  rush  by  us,  plunge 
in,  and  come  up  to  the  surface  and  say,  *  It  is  grand ;  come 
in.'     Men,  go  and  take  a  header." 

My  brother,  are  you  sitting  with  your  banker's  books  before, 
your  eyes,  or  with  your  reputation  before  you,  and  saying,  "  I 
cannot  "?  Nobody  ever  thought  _>'^//  could,  but  ^/le  Lord  can. 
Will  you  say  to-day,  from  the  depths  of  your  heart,  "  Though 
he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him  "?  God  grant  you  grace  to 
do  it,  and  a  life  of  power  will  begin. 


THE    ONLY   TRUE    FAITH 


"  The  centurion  answered  and  said,  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou 
shouldest  come  under  my  roof :  but  speak  the  word  only,  and  my  servant 
shall  be  healed.  For  I  am  a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers  under 
me.  .  .  .  When  Jesus  heard  it,  he  marveled,  and  said  to  them  that  fol- 
lowed. Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in 
Israel." — Matthew  viii.  8-io. 

GREAT  truths  have  often  been  expressed  in  very  simple 
language,  and  have  proceeded  from  most  untutored 
minds  when  instructed  by  God.  Very  probably  the  speakers 
have  had  at  the  time  but  little  consciousness  of  the  marvelous 
truths  to  which  they  were  giving  expression ;  but  this  demon- 
strates the  more  clearly  that  God  can  take  the  weak  things  of 
this  world  to  confound  the  mighty,  the  things  that  are  not  to 
bring  to  naught  the  things  that  are.  So  the  Lord  is  pleased 
at  times  to  speak  by  the  Holy  Ghost  through  men  who  them- 
selves have  no  conception  of  the  depth  of  their  utterances, 
which  are  afterward  elucidated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the 
benefit  of  God's  people. 

When  the  centurion  spoke  these  words  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
it  would  seem  that  there  was  nothing  more  present  to  his  mind 
than  the  thought  that  as  a  Roman  soldier  he  had  learned  the 
great  law  of  obedience— to  obey  and  to  be  obeyed— and  that 
in  his  sphere  the  power  to  command  was  absolute  just  so  far 
as  it  could  be  enforced  by  man.  He  recognized  in  Christ  the 
presence  of  One  infinitely  superior  to  any  one  with  whom  he 

71 


72  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

had  ever  dealt,  One  who  apparently  had  command  in  the 
sphere  of  the  unseen  and  the  spiritual.  He  thought  that  what 
he  himself  understood  as  the  great  law  of  his  life  should  be 
applied  in  the  case  of  Jesus.  He  argues  from  the  less  to  the 
greater,  from  the  seen  to  the  unseen,  from  the  temporal  to  the 
spiritual,  and  says  to  himself,  "  As  I  have  been  accustomed  to 
obey  and  to  be  obeyed  in  the  army  to  which  I  belong,  so  this 
great  Commander,  whoever  he  is,  certainly  has  power  to  en- 
force his  commands  in  the  spheres  of  sickness,  sorrow,  and 
suffering,  over  which  he  holds  sway."  Consequently  he  says, 
"  Speak  the  word  only,  Lord  ;  speak  the  word  only."  Every 
Christian  must  expect  this  same  absolute  obedience  to  the 
word  of  the  Lord  which  that  soldier  expected  when  he  bowed 
as  a  poor  humble  supphant  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
who  he  knew  had  power  to  enforce  his  commands.  He 
therefore  believed  that  the  Lord  Jesus  would  speak  that  word 
which  would  set  his  home  at  rest,  and  would  leave  him  and 
all  his  family  at  liberty  to  enjoy  the  blessings  which  the  Lord 
provided.* 

Life  is  not  only  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  many,  but,  owing 
to  our  pecuHar  circumstances,!  life  is  an  abstruse  question,  a 
riddle  of  a  very  peculiar  kind.  Men  see  that  if  the  Bible  is  a 
divine  revelation  it  offers  a  standard  of  living  which  is  infinitely 
above  that  which  is  ordinarily  lived  by  men.     They  see,  on 

*  Whom  this  centurion  took  the  Lord  Jesus  to  be,  it  matters  not  for  our 
present  purpose,  though  scholars  have  often  exercised  their  talents  in  try- 
ing to  discover  whether  he  took  Jesus  to  be  the  Lord,  the  revealed  Mes- 
siah, the  accepted  Son  of  God,  or  some  other  personage. 

t  Circumstances  are  things  that  "  stand  around  "  us  ;  but  if  I  am  in  Christ 
Jesus  I  am  in  a  position  in  which  circumstances  must  be  outside  of  him  also, 
and  therefore  cannot  touch  me  just  so  long  as  I  continue  in  the  Son  of  God 
for  security  and  rest.  And  if  the  blessed  Lord  dwell  in  me  while  I  am  per- 
mitted to  abide  in  him,  what  can  circumstances  do  to  injure  me  ?  There- 
fore I  need  never  say  again  that  circumstances  are  too  strong  for  me,  since 
they  are  not  likely  to  be  too  strong  for  my  Lord. 


THE   ONLY   TRUE  FAITH  73 

the  other  hand,  that,  with  the  strained  activity  of  the  present 
generation,  a  man  must  be  very  earnestly  devoted  to  his  own 
business  if  he  would  keep  pace  with  the  requirements  of  the 
age.  The  consequence  is  that  they  think  that  there  is  a 
divergence  between  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal,  between 
the  doctrinal  and  the  practical,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to 
reconcile  the  two.  Thus  we  hear  it  said  that  a  man  or  a 
woman  engaged  in  the  struggles  of  this  life  cannot  be  expected 
to  have  perfect  and  uninterrupted  rest  and  joy  and  commu- 
nion with  God  in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  and  distress  of  busi- 
ness life. 

Such  a  statement,  my  brethren,  distinctly  contradicts  all  the 
purposes  of  God ;  for  while  life  is  a  riddle  to  the  creature,  it 
is  a  riddle  only  because  men  have  either  never  been  taught, 
or  fail  to  recognize  and  acknowledge,  the  wonderful  unity 
which  pervades  the  true  life.  There  may  be  manifold  man- 
ifestations of  life,  but  throughout  all  these  manifestations  there 
should  run  one  great  unifying  principle,  one  purpose ;  and  un- 
less that  unifying  principle  pervades  our  every  act,  it  is  no  won- 
der that  we  lack  communion  and  fellowship  with  God,  no  won- 
der that  religion  is  divorced  from  business,  no  wonder  that  what 
men  call  the  privileges  of  the  gospel  are  in  their  minds  disas- 
sociated from  the  duties  and  the  demands  of  a  daily  existence. 
We  affirm— and  I  trust  that  God  may  confirm  it  by  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost — that  the  divine  unity  which  pervades  the 
Godhead,  coupled  with  the  trinity  of  manifestation,  is  intended 
to  be  a  pattern  to  us  of  what  should  pervade  the  life  of  every 
human  being  on  earth.  As  hfe  is  one,  and  yet  may  have 
manifold  representations,  so  there  should  be  in  each  of  us  a 
oneness  of  life  and  of  thought,  a  oneness  of  purpose  and  of 
power,  if  the  original  revelation  of  God  in  man  is  to  be  carried 
out.  Adam  had  this  unity  of  hfe,  for  he  was  one  with  God ; 
but  Adam  lost  it  because  he  turned  from  God.  Adam's  rep- 
resentative, Christ  Jesus,  came  to  bring  to  us  that  which  Adam 


74  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

the  first  had  lost ;  the  second  Adam  regains  for  man  exactly 
what  was  lost  through  sin.  Before  discord  was  introduced 
into  their  life  by  sin,  Adam  and  Eve  lived  for  God ;  they  ate 
for  God,  they  drank  for  God,  they  walked  for  God,  they 
worked  for  God,  they  were  gardeners  for  God ;  their  life  was 
one  in  which  God  was  the  all-pervading  principle,  the  all-per- 
vading power ;  there  was  for  them  no  severance  between  the 
secular  and  the  religious,  no  difference  between  the  temporal 
and  the  spiritual,  between  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly ;  all 
was  of  God,  all  was  for  God.  But  the  moment  that  sin  en- 
tered into  man's  being  it  corrupted  and  terribly  transformed 
and  severed  one  part  of  man  from  his  God  so  completely  that 
ail  his  other  faculties  became  tainted  and  marred  by  the  dis- 
union. Henceforth  man  lived  a  divided  life,  so  utterly  divided 
that  it  seemed  impossible  that  there  could  be  such  perfect  recon- 
ciliation as  ever  again  to  induce  absolute  unity  of  power  in  the 
sons  of  men.  As  long  as  men  and  women  think  that  secular 
life  must  be  a  separate  existence  from  the  spiritual,  that  earthly 
engagements  cannot  be  reconciled  with  uninterrupted  com- 
munion with  God,  just  so  long  are  they  living  outside  the  pur- 
poses of  God,  contradicting  the  majesty  of  their  true  human 
nature,  and  denying  the  efficacy  of  the  gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

The  Son  of  God  has  been  revealed  to  the  sons  of  men  not 
only  to  exhibit  a  perfect  pattern  of  One  who  lived  in  perfect 
communion  with  God  the  Father,  so  that  he  could  say  that  his 
words,  his  thoughts,  and  his  works  were  not  his  own,  but  the 
Father's  which  sent  him ;  but  Christ  also  came  to  produce  in 
the  sons  of  men  who  accept  him  as  their  Saviour  the  very  same 
existence  in  connection  with  the  divine,  only  modified  by  our 
human  capacity  and  by  the  root  of  sin,  which  never  existed  in 
our  Lord,  but  will  hinder  and  hamper  us  to  the  last  moment 
of  our  mortal  existence. 

We  may  find  one  solution  of  the  riddle  of  life  which  puzzles 


THE  ONLY  TRUE  FAITH  75 

men  strikingly  brought  out  in  the  centurion's  words,  even 
though  he  may  not  have  understood  their  full  import  at  the 
time  when  he  gave  expression  to  them,  and  though  from  the 
natural  he  argued  as  to  the  spiritual  sphere.* 

In  Christ  things  which  to  the  unenlightened  eye  seem  to  be 
severed  are  united.  All  the  perplexity  and  painful  distress, 
the  dark  difficulties  that  may  dominate  one's  whole  existence, 
would  disappear  if  we  would  only  learn  that  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  eating  and  drinking,  our  sleeping  and  clothing  of  the  body, 
are  as  much  spiritual  matters  as  falling  upon  our  knees  in 
prayer,  or  reading  God's  holy  Word,  or  partaking  of  the 
holy  communion  at  the  table  of  the  Lord.  In  Christ  Jesus 
life  is  one,  and  there  ought  to  be  no  division  between  things 
secular  and  things  spiritual,  things  bodily  and  things  heavenly ; 
they  must  be  one,  absolutely  one. 

This  truth  is  illustrated  in  the  twofold  life  of  this  centurion. 
Not  until  we  have  carefully  studied  the  military  history  of 
Rome  shall  we  fully  understand  the  mighty  force  of  the  words 
to  which  this  man  gives  utterance :  "  I  am  a  man  under 
authority."  This  one  idea  pervaded  his  entire  existence ;  this 
one  law — the  law  of  obedience — governed  his  whole  life ;  for 
the  instant  a  man  was  called  to  join  the  Roman  army  he  gave 
himself  over  to  one  law  of  life ;  henceforth  he  must  not  know 
the  possession  of  property  or  the  possession  of  relatives,  he 
must  not  know  the  possession  of  a  will,  or  even  the  possession 
of  hope,  in  one  sense ;  he  was  simply  a  vessel,  an  instrument, 

*  Some  may  think  that  it  is  not  permissible  to  infer  a  great  spiritual 
principle  from  words  which  were  spoken  concerning  things  temporal,  or  to 
impose  a  doctrinal  significance  upon  words  spoken  concerning  the  physi- 
cal sphere.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  is  right  to  argue  thus,  for  from 
the  lower  life  this  man  drew  his  deductions  as  to  the  higher,  from  the 
temporal  he  rose  to  the  eternal,  from  the  natural  he  drew  inferences  as  to 
the  unknown  but  spirit  domain.  If  you  sever  the  natural  from  the  spirit- 
ual, you  contradict  the  purposes  of  life,  you  refuse  to  acknowledge  the 
real  meaning  of  life,  and  you  lose  where  you  ought  to  gain. 


^6  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

taken  possession  of  by  the  state,  to  be  absolutely,  ceaselessly, 
under  the  control  of  that  great  power  which  had  called  him 
into  its  service.  The  Roman  imperium  overshadowed  the 
man  and  absorbed  him  and  all  that  he  had  into  itself.  But 
while  the  imperium  took  him  into  its  power,  at  the  same  time 
it  transmitted  its  power  to  him  ;  he,  therefore,  became  not  only 
an  instrument  of  the  state,  but  he  also  became  possessed  of 
the  whole  power  of  that  state  to  carry  out  its  will,  so  far  as 
that  will  could  be  carried  out  in  one  individual.  The  Roman 
soldier  was  the  representative  of  a  domination  that  overruled 
him,  and  that  overruled  the  world,  and  that  through  him  car- 
ried out  its  purpose  and  pleasure.  It  was  possible  for  that 
soldier  to  embody  the  whole  Roman  authority,  the  whole 
Roman  force,  in  his  person  ;  he  might  say,  "  In  all  these  things 
I  am  more  than  conqueror  through  the  power  that  has  taken 
possession  of  me  and  deigns  to  make  me  its  medium  of  revela- 
tion." Therefore  in  the  centurion,  as  in  every  other  Roman 
soldier,  there  was  a  double  life.  There  was,  first,  a  life  in  which 
the  principle  of  the  domination  of  the  state  took  possession  of 
him,  so  as  to  make  him  feel  that  he  had  not  an  instinct,  not  a 
plan  or  a  purpose,  that  was  not  the  property  of  the  state.  But, 
second,  he  could  also  feel  that,  as  he  was  taken  possession  of  by 
the  state  for  its  use,  so  the  state,  with  all  its  imperium  behind 
him,  enabled  him  to  step  out  with  the  assurance  that  it  would 
deliver  him  from  evil,  that  it  would  avenge  his  cause  at  every 
point  and  take  his  part  in  the  presence  of  his  foes,  and  that  it 
would  empower  him  for  whatsoever  it  desired.  Therefore,  so 
far  as  Rome  was  omnipotent,  and  so  far  as  one  man  could 
carry  out  Rome's  purposes,  just  so  far  each  individual  soldier 
became  omnipotent,  and  could  say,  "  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Rome  which  strengthens  me."  In  those  days  the 
Romans  deified  power,  and  actually  worshiped  their  own  em- 
perors while  living,  and  glorified  them  as  gods  when  dead, 
looking  upon  them  as  the  earthly  representatives  of  power. 


THE  ONLY  TRUE  FAITH  77 

When  this  soldier  stood  before  Christ  he  said,  "  My  experi- 
ence has  been  that  as  I  obey  I  am  also  obeyed.  I  can  see 
that  thou  hast  authority  in  the  unknown  spiritual  domain; 
therefore  the  unseen  powers  will  obey  thee  exactly  as  I  have 
learned  to  obey  Rome  and  to  be  obeyed  by  those  under  me. 
I  appeal  to  thee,  therefore,  O  Master,  to  speak  the  word  only, 
and  all  will  be  well."  Because  of  these  words  our  blessed 
Lord  was  pleased  to  say  that  he  had  never  seen  such  faith 
in  man.  In  return  for  this  evidence  of  faith  Jesus  gave  him 
all  that  he  desired :  "  Go  thy  way ;  thy  servant  is  healed ;"  and 
our  Lord  actually  deigned  to  marvel.* 

Now  this  incident  brings  out  a  very  magnificent  truth.  It 
teaches  us  first  of  all  that  here  is  true  faith.  Faith  is  not  the 
glib  utterance  of  any  form  of  words  or  any  principle  of  doc- 
trine, but  faith  is  the  submission  of  the  whole  being  to  the  will  of 
the  Holy  One,  who  stands  before  us  as  the  true  representative 
of  authority  and  government.  When  our  souls,  our  bodies, 
and  our  whole  being  and  property  are  brought  into  absolute 
submission  to  his  will,  then,  and  then  only,  are  we  men  of 
faith.  Here,  of  course,  we  have  to  do  with  a  different  sphere. 
There  the  man  was  only  a  slave ;  he  was  bodily  a  representa- 
tive of  obedience ;  in  our  case  it  comes  to  the  inner  hfe  first. 
As  Christians  our  spirits  must  first  be  submitted,  then  the  will, 
and  the  body  will  follow  as  an  instrument  subject  to  the  will 
and  ready  to  carry  out  its  behests.  For  this  faith  Christ 
praised  the  centurion,  and  this  alone  Christ  accepts  of  us,  this 

*  Christ  marveled  only  twice  in  all  his  existence  upon  earth,  so  far  as  we 
know.  Once  was  on  this  occasion,  when  he  marveled  at  the  faith  of  the 
poor  heathen  who  had  come  to  believe  in  his  power.  The  other  case  was 
when  he  marveled  at  the  unbelief  of  the  people  of  his  own  village,  among 
whom  he  had  been  brought  up,  and  where  he  had  lived  so  many  years 
(Mark  vi.  6).  He  marveled  there  because  of  their  unbelief;  he  marvels 
here  because  of  the  belief  of  a  Roman  centurion,  and  said  to  the  whole 
multitude  of  enlightened  Jews  Avho  stood  around  him,  "  I  have  not  found 
so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel." 


78  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

only  will  be  the  means  of  introducing  us  into  that  blessed  life 
of  liberty,  peace,  rest,  and  power  which  we  so  strongly  desire. 
You  will  never  enter  into  the  life  of  rest  and  victory,  you  will 
never  know  what  it  is  to  be  one  with  the  Father  in  Christ 
Jesus  through  the  Spirit,  until  you  have  learned  the  divine  law 
that  life  is  one,  that  you  cannot  sever  the  secular  from  the 
spiritual.  The  one  great  means  by  which  this  unity  of  life  is 
to  be  manifested  in  your  business  and  in  your  pleasures  is  by 
your  taking  this  position  and  saying,  "I  am  a  man  under 
authority." 

The  unifying  principle  of  Hfe  has  been  exhibited  in  the 
temporal  sphere  in  the  case  of  the  centurion,  but  it  is  also  per- 
missible to  apply  this  to  the  spiritual  sphere.  Our  Lord  com- 
mends the  centurion's  faith,  but  no  man  has  true  faith  who 
does  not  act  on  the  great  principle  of  submission  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  as  the  supreme  representative  of  authority.  From  the 
moment  that  a  man  is  born  into  the  world  he  is  inclined  to 
evil ;  the  very  instincts  of  his  nature  lead  him  astray ;  and  yet 
we  can  see  that  no  human  being  is  altogether  and  hopelessly 
evil  unless  he  wilfully  allies  himself  to  the  devil  and  his  ways. 
That  is  why  Christ,  when  he  condemns  the  lost  to  everlasting 
fire,  says,  "  Go  into  the  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels."  No  man  goes  to  hell,  thank  God,  except  the  man 
who  sets  his  face  to  be  like  the  devil,  and  therefore  becomes 
a  demon  and  loses  every  instinct  of  good.  But  in  human  be- 
ings, as  long  as  they  remain  in  this  world,  there  is  always  the 
possibility  of  salvation,  for  there  is  still  in  man,  no  matter  how 
depraved,  the  possible  instinct  of  turning  to  God ;  there  is  still 
a  desire  toward  good  in  what  we  call  his  better  moments.  All 
who  are  not  converted  to  God,  however,  go  down,  down, 
down,  and  are  finally  completely  overcome  by  Satan ;  if  they 
are  not  servants  of  God,  they  end  by  being  slaves  of  the  devil. 
What  is  their  condition  ?  Is  it  restful,  is  it  a  life  that  flows  on 
in  endless  song  even  if  worldly  blessing  fail  ?     No ;  there  is 


THE  ONLY  TRUE  FAITH  79 

always  unrest.  "  The  wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea,  when 
it  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt.  There  is 
no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked"  (Isa.  Ivii.  20,  21). 
A  wicked  man  may  call  himself  happy,  but  he  always  seeks 
to  avoid  God,  and  is  ever  restless  and  wretched.  But  bring 
that  man  under  the  power  of  the  gospel  and  what  happens  ? 
He  is  convicted  of  sin  and  realizes  immediately  that  he  ought 
to  live  a  better  life,  that  God  requires  a  holy  life.  He  usually 
sets  about  to  try  to  please  God  by  his  own  efforts.  He  begins 
to  turn  over  a  new  leaf  and  struggles  hard  to  obey  God's  law, 
but  the  consequence  is  that  there  is  ten  times  as  much  unrest 
as  before  his  conviction.  He  becomes  so  agonized  that  his 
soul  cannot  be  still  for  a  moment ;  he  has  no  pleasure  either  in 
heavenly  or  in  earthly  things ;  he  is  living  in  bitter  distress. 
But  now  let  that  man  learn  that  Christ  has  made  peace  with 
God  through  his  precious  blood,  and  that  the  cross  brings  per- 
fect acceptance  to  any  man  who  beheves  in  Jesus.  What 
happiness  follows!  He  accepts  the  truth  that  he  is  pardoned 
for  Christ's  sake.  But  is  he  simply  pardoned  because  he  be- 
heves that  Christ  died  for  him  ?  Nay,  God  forbid  ;  you  know 
the  power,  I  hope,  of  2  Corinthians  v.  17:  "If  any  man  be  in 
Christ,  there  is  a  new  creation  [icatvfi  ktIgl^]  :  old  things  have 
passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  have  become  new."  Why  is 
that  not  true  experimentally  ?  Because  we  do  not  recognize 
the  force  of  the  truth  which  I  wish  to  impress.  When  a  man 
truly  believes,  there  has  come  into  that  man's  very  being  a 
new  life  from  God,  which  is  the  God-life.  This  is  not  given 
him  simply  that  he  may  say,  *'  I  am  saved  and  am  going  to 
heaven ;"  but  Christ  has  come  in  to  dominate  his  whole  being, 
to  take  possession  of  him  forever.  How  we  have  slandered 
our  Lord  when  we  have  dared  to  stand  before  the  world  and 
to  say,  ''  I  am  Christ's,  because  I  believe  that  Christ  died  for 
me  "!  That  does  not  satisfy  God.  He  wants  man  to  be  Hv- 
ing  the  divine  life  in  all  the  power  and  blessedness  of  that 


8o  THE  LIFE   OF  PRIVILEGE 

unity  which  pervades  the  divine  life  in  all  with  manifold  repre- 
sentations. Each  of  us  has  but  one  Hfe ;  whose  is  it  to  be? 
The  moment  I  am  regenerated  Christ  has  entered  my  heart, 
and  henceforth  I  am  his.  Now  I  stand  before  the  world  a 
saved  soul,  to  say  but  one  thing :  "  I  am  a  man  under  author- 
ity." If  I  am  Christ's,  then  his  divine  hfe  must  be  poured 
into  my  heart,  into  my  soul,  into  my  hfe,  into  my  body,  into 
my  property,  into  my  home,  into  my  business,  and  into  my 
pleasures.  In  baptism  I  became  a  servant,  a  soldier  of  Christ, 
like  the  soldier  under  the  Roman  imperium,  dommated  abso- 
lutely by  his  will  and  his  power,  so  that  not  a  moment  or  a 
faculty  or  a  possession  is  my  own. 

Brethren,  you  may  hurl  my  words  from  you,  but  you  cannot 
hurl  God  from  you.  If  you  have  heard  God's  Word  you  must 
one  day  answer  for  it.  Do  you  desire  to  learn  the  secret  of 
a  restful  life,  to  learn  how  you  can  be  a  man  or  woman  of 
Christly  power?  You  can  only  become  such  in  so  far  as 
Christ  has  power  over  you  and  takes  possession  of  you,  as 
Rome  took  possession  of  her  soldiers  to  make  use  of  them  for 
the  glory  and  the  honor  of  the  state.  Rome  rewarded  her 
soldiers,  and  do  you  suppose  the  Lord  will  not  reward  you? 
He  will  reward  you  abundantly  when  the  time  comes,  but  do 
not  think  of  that  at  the  outset.  Think  first,  "  For  what  am 
I  enrolled;  who  has  taken  me  into  his  service,  and  what  hfe 
am  I  now  to  live?  "  You  are  to  live  a  life  of  obedience  to 
authority ;  a  hfe  in  which  there  is  but  one  dominating  power — 
the  omnipotent  imperium  of  the  Godhead.  To  think  that  he  is 
wiUing  to  take  us,  and  to  permit  us  to  represent  him  before 
men!  We  feel  that  we  are  unworthy  of  it,  as  a  man  might 
think,  *'  Am  I  worthy  to  be  a  general,  to  represent  Rome  and 
the  grand  embodiment  of  authority  that  is  found  in  the  em- 
peror? Can  I  stand  before  the  world  as  the  representative  of 
the  great  Caesar?  "  He  can  do  it  only  as  Caesar  gives  him 
power,  but  Caesar  may  do  as  he  will.     "  We  have  no  king  but 


THE  ONLY  TRUE  FAITH  8i 

Caesar,"  says  the  recreant  Jew.  "  We  have  one  king,"  says 
the  Christian  who  is  hving  a  half-and-half  life,  "  and  it  is  the 
world's  opinion."  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  says,  "  My  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world ;  it  is  of  heaven."  Christian  brethren,  we 
have  no  other  king  than  the  Lord's  Anointed.  "  The  govern- 
ment shall  be  upon  his  shoulders,  and  of  the  advance  of  his 
authority  there  shall  be  no  end."  Each  of  us  must  show  that 
to  be  true  in  our  own  hfe. 

What  a  He  it  is  to  say  that  Christ  is  put  in  possession  of 
authority  by  his  Father,  being  seated  at  God's  right  hand ; 
that  we  give  him  the  kingdom,  while  we  are  yet  bowing  before 
Caesar — the  Caesar  that  reigns  in  the  daily  life  of  fashion  for 
the  women,  the  Caesar  that  reigns  in  daily  business  life  for  the 
men,  and  in  the  daily  life  of  authority  for  the  clergymen!  A 
man  said  to  me  not  long  ago,  "  How  can  the  clergy  hve  above 
their  daily  bread?  You  cannot  expect  it  from  them.  They 
hang  upon  the  wills  of  their  congregations."  Brethren,  we 
have  no  right  before  God  or  man  to  care  what  men  may  say. 
We  are  under  the  authority  of  Christ,  and  we  must  speak  his 
truth.  To  mince  words  because  men's  money  is  at  stake  is  to 
deny  the  authority  of  the  true  Emperor;  it  is  to  be  cowards 
to  our  Lord.  You  would  never  again  be  influenced  by  such 
sordid  motives  if  you  conceived  of  the  Christ-power  you  ought. 
It  must  pain  any  Christian  to  think  that  any  child  of  God  could 
say,  "  I  cannot  live  above  my  daily  bread ;  if  I  offend  my 
people  they  will  turn  to  Rev.  Mr.  So-and-So."  Will  they? 
What  matters  that  ?  You  are  a  man  under  authority.  And 
you,  my  business  brother,  take  up  your  banker's  book  and 
your  balance-sheets,  take  up  your  great  accounts  of  all  your 
home  and  foreign  trade ;  look  over  them,  item  by  item,  and 
say,  "Will  they  stand  the  scrutiny  of  the  great  Auditor  of 
heaven?  "  The  Auditor  of  heaven  does  more  than  the  audi- 
tor of  earth.  The  heavenly  Auditor  looks  into  the  motive 
back  of  every  transaction  and  memorandum.     We  all  need  to 


82  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

be  commercial  Christians,  but  we  are  only  at  liberty  to  act 
according  to  the  law  of  God ;  to  refuse  to  do  so  is  to  deny  the 
power  of  Jesus. 

If  we  could  only  get  this  principle  before  us  it  would  set  at 
rest  all  our  present  troubled  condition  of  soul.  You  who  are 
exercised  about  your  duties  to  society,  have  you  ever  thought 
that  if  Christ  were  really  in  authority,  and  there  were  no  di- 
vided life  due  to  the  setting  up  of  two  principles,  all  this  quib- 
bling about  social  duties  and  pleasures  would  disappear? 
You  must  not  depend  on  man's  advice  or  limitations.  God  is 
your  judge.  "  Happy  is  he  that  condemneth  not  himself  in 
that  thing  which  he  alloweth  "  (Rom.  xiv.  22).*  Apply  that 
to  your  daily  life  and  you  will  soon  settle  the  questions  about 
this  or  that  partnership  or  pleasure  or  business  transaction. 
Can  a  Christian  go  into  partnership  with  one  who  serv^es  man 
and  the  devil  and  never  submits  his  affairs  to  Christ?  How 
can  Christ  have  fellowship  with  Belial?  Settle  it  with  God, 
and  do  not  deceive  yourself  with  the  idea  that  you  will  do  good. 
If  you  make  yourself  one  with  the  world  on  the  plea  of  raising 
the  world  to  God  you  will  have  to  pay  for  it  in  the  day  of  the 
Lord's  settlement.  In  these  days  there  is  much  talk  about  a 
longing  for  power.  Christians  exclaim,  "  I  want  the  baptism 
for  power;  would  to  God  I  had  power! "  See  how  Christ  has 
solved  the  whole  thing  for  us  through  this  centurion.  This 
Roman  soldier  said,  "  I  am  a  man  under  authority,  and  have 
soldiers  under  me."  He  had  learned  the  art  of  obeying,  and 
therefore  the  state  could  trust  him  to  command  and  to  be 
obeyed.  Learn  to  obey  and  you  will  soon  be  in  command. 
Christ  "learned  obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered;" 
therefore  "  hath  God  highly  exalted  him."  Beloved,  why  play 
the  fool  about  this  matter  ?     You  would  like  to  feel,  as  one 

*  2  Corinthians  x.  5  will  settle  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  difficulties  that 
occur :  "  Bringing  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 
(Cf.  I  Cor.  X.  31.) 


THE   ONLY   TRUE  FAITH  S3 

said  to  me.  He  wanted  a  physical  manifestation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  so  he  would  go  through  a  night  of  prayer  like  a 
Roman  Catholic,  or  perform  some  great  ascetic  act  in  hope 
of  getting  power  for  self.  A  man  will  go  to  an  all-night 
prayer-meeting  to  get  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Prayers 
will  do  much,  but  they  will  do  nothing  while  there  is  contrari- 
ety to  God.  When  you  put  yourself  under  authority  let  the 
representative  of  authority  say  of  you,  "That  man  is  to  be 
trusted."  Why  is  one  man  more  used  than  another  to-day? 
Because  he  obeys ;  he  is  not  to  be  flattered,  he  is  not  anxious 
for  the  opinion  of  man.  Let  a  man  overcome  self  in  the  law 
of  obedience,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  will  take  him  and  use  him 
as  a  vessel  fit  for  the  Master's  use.  All  this  talk  about  yearn- 
ing for  power  is  so  much  empty  breath,  so  much  vanity  and 
conceit,  until  men  have  learned  this  lesson.  Put  this  law  into 
practice.  Brethren,  I  know  but  one  life  of  joy — I  wish  I 
knew  it  better—  it  is  a  life  of  obedience  to  Christ's  authority. 


TRUST 


"  We  had  the  sentence  of  death  in  ourselves,  that  we  should  not  trust 
in  ourselves,  but  in  God  which  raiseth  the  dead :  who  delivered  us  from 
so  great  a  death,  and  doth  deliver :  in  whom  we  trust  that  he  will  yet 
deliver  us."— 2  Corinthians  i.  9,  10. 

THE  Scriptures  of  God  abound  in  paradoxes,  in  difficulties 
which  are  absolutely  insuperable  by  the  common  laws  of 
reason  ;  and  yet  the  more  we  take  them  into  our  souls,  instead 
of  puzzling  our  brains  over  them,  the  more  we  find  these  par- 
adoxes are  not  really  contradictions,  but  are  blessed  truths  with 
two  sides,  and  that  they  only  need  the  light  of  God  to  illumine 
first  one  side  and  then  the  other  in  order  to  reveal  them  as 
one  grand  truth  which  shall  be  blessed  to  the  life  of  the  soul. 
It  is  a  glorious  fact  that  God  must  be  exalted  and  man 
must  be  humbled,  and  that  just  in  proportion  as  man  is  hum- 
bled in  his  own  eyes  he  is  exalted  in  God's ;  but  if  man  dares 
to  exalt  himself  he  becomes,  not  truly  humble,  but  humihated, 
and  loses  the  blessing  that  would  otherwise  be  his  through  all 
eternity.  It  is  impossible  for  God  to  give  his  glory  to  another 
—that  is  the  lesson  which  God  has  been  seeking  to  teach 
humanity  since  the  day  when  Adam  and  Eve  fell  under  the 
power  of  the  devil.  As  long  as  there  was  no  sin  in  the  world 
man  did  not  seek  to  rob  God  of  his  glory ;  but  the  moment 
that  sin  came  God  lost  his  place  of  honor  in  man's  heart,  and 
until  God  is  restored  to  his  proper  place  it  is  impossible  that 
the  designs  of  God— which  are  all  love,  all  goodness,  all  joy, 

84 


TRUST  85 

rest,  and  peace  for  the  creature — can  be  fulfilled  in  man.  If 
men  could  only  learn  this  blessed  truth  their  life  of  blessing 
would  begin.  If  men  could  only  understand  that  it  is  not 
humiliation  when  they  are  humbled  and  brought  to  a  condi- 
tion of  nothingness  in  the  sight  of  God,  they  would  then  be 
exalted  to  their  position  in  the  heavenhes  in  Christ  Jesus.  It 
matters  not  what  we  are  in  the  sight  of  men ;  it  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  what  we  are  in  the  sight  of  the  creatures  in  hell;  it 
does  not  concern  us  how  we  stand  in  regard  to  the  animate  or 
inanimate  creation ;  the  one  question  that  concerns  every 
rational  being,  and  must  be  answered  solemnly  and  truthfully, 
is,  What  are  we  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  what  would  God 
make  of  us  if  we  gave  him  full  control  over  our  lives  ? 

When  God  created  man  all  was  hfe.  Death  had  never  en- 
tered the  creature,  and  only  existed  as  an  unknown  quantity. 
Though  God  was  compelled  in  his  wondrous  wisdom  and  love 
to  say  to  man,  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shall 
surely  die,"  man  knew  not  what  was  meant  by  death ;  it  was 
an  unexperienced  horror  which  might  strike  him,  but  could  not 
strike  him  with  fear,  because  he  could  not  conceive  of  the 
existence  of  death  as  we  now  understand  it.  But  the  moment 
that  man  fell  the  decree  of  God  took  effect,  and  has  remained 
in  force  ever  since— the  decree  that  sin  entails  death,  that  sin 
demands  and  enforces  death,  so  that  sin  and  life  cannot  co- 
exist. Sin  not  only  brings  death,  but  sin  is  death,  by  reason 
of  the  penalty  enforced  upon  the  act  of  sin,  which  severs 
us  from  God;  because  to  be  separated  from  God  is  to  die. 
Death  is  not  the  cessation  of  existence ;  death  is  separation. 
It  is  necessary  that  we  should  realize  this,  because  there  are 
those  in  the  present  day — even  ministers,  in  their  folly  and  in 
their  ignorance  of  the  Word  of  God  and  the  great  universe 
that  surrounds  us — who  teach  what  they  call  "  eternal  death," 
as  if  it  meant  annihilation.  Death  is  neither  annihilation  nor 
a  cessation  of  existence ;  death  is  simply  the  separation  of  one 


B6  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

energy  from  a  person's  being,  and  the  removal  of  a  person  into 
another  condition.  Thus  when  man  died  because  he  sinned 
he  did  not  cease  to  exist ;  he  only  separated  himself  from  God, 
and  thus  he  died  in  the  strictest  and  most  divine  sense  of  the 
word.  Therefore  there  was  found  in  man  henceforth,  not  life, 
but  spiritual  death ;  and  there  has  never  been  life  in  any  per- 
son born  into  this  world  until  that  person  is  given  the  blessed 
gift  of  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ.  Physical  life  men 
may  have,  mental  life  they  may  have,  emotional  life  they  may 
have,  and  yet  they  may  lack  the  true  and  better  qualities  of 
life.  Notice  the  poor  idiot ;  he  lives,  but  he  is  dead  in  very 
life.  The  madman  lives,  but  he  is  mentally  dead.  A  man  in 
a  condition  of  syncope  lives,  and  yet  it  is  merely  a  physical 
existence  ;  he  breathes,  but  he  is  dead  to  all  the  outside  sounds 
and  surroundings.  Thus  it  is  possible  to  live  in  death  and  to 
be  dead  in  life ;  to  have  one  part  of  one's  being  in  full  posses- 
sion of  its  faculties,  while  the  other  parts  are  altogether  lack- 
ing ;  and  this  is  death. 

The  moment  that  Adam  fell  he  ceased  to  exist  in  regard  to 
the  Hfe  of  God ;  he  lost  the  Hfe  that  is  called  eternal.  The 
purpose  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  was 
revealed  from  heaven  among  the  children  of  men,  was  to  re- 
bestow  what  Adam  had  lost,  and  to  endow  humanity  with 
something  better ;  he  came  to  give  us  back  all  that  we  lost  in 
Adam,  and  also  to  make  us  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
Lord  God  Almighty  in  the  fullness  of  the  enjoyment  of  that 
wonderful  term.  Adam  could  not  be  called  the  child  of  God 
in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  is  applied  to  a  Christian. 
Adam  was  only  a  child  of  nature,  with  the  God  of  providence 
and  power  overruling  him ;  the  Christian  is  a  child  of  grace, 
with  the  God  of  love  and  beauty  and  holiness  overruling  him. 

Faith  is  the  act  which  God  has  empowered  every  creature 
to  perform,  and  by  which  we  take  to  ourselves  the  gifts  of 
God.    Thus  it  is  that  in  the  Scriptures  eternal  life  is  everywhere 


TRUST  87 

described,  not  as  a  possibility  through  human  merit,  not  as  a 
possession  to  be  attained  by  labor,  but  as  a  gift— "the  gift  of 
God  is  eternal  life."  What  does  a  man  do  when  he  would 
receive  the  benefits  of  that  gift?  He  simply  stretches  forth 
his  hand  and  receives  it  as  his  own,  receives  it  to  himself  with 
all  his  faculties  of  gratitude  and  joy,  and  then  participates  in 
the  benefits  that  accrue  from  it.  Faith,  then,  is  simply  claim- 
ing from  God  what  God  bestows,  and  thankfully  accepting  the 
benefits  thereof.  Faith  may  submit  blindly  in  some  respects. 
The  world  may  laugh,  but  we  are  not  ashamed  to  say  that 
while  our  faith  is  reasonable,  reason  cannot  as  yet  satisfy  itself 
with  regard  to  everything  in  which  faith  must  be  exercised. 
Otherwise  there  would  be  no  room  for  faith,  for  the  highest 
faith  does  not  exist  where  reason  has  satisfied  all  these  require- 
ments. Faith  simply  takes  what  God  bestows,  and  enables 
man  to  become  a  partaker  of  all  the  benefits  that  can  accrue 
from  the  blessing  which  God  in  his  grace  or  goodness  is  pleased 
to  offer  to  man.  Thus  faith  is  receptive ;  and  faith,  when  it 
has  received,  submits,  because  it  is  blind  and  ignorant,  and 
because  it  simply  accepts  the  Word  of  God  as  infallible. 

But  while  faith  is  demanded  by  God  from  all  mankind, 
because  he  has  endowed  man  with  the  possibility  of  using  it, 
there  is  another  blessed  spiritual  quality  which  is  of  equal  im- 
portance, and  must  have  full  play  before  one  can  enter  upon  this 
life  of  privilege  which  God  offers.  It  is  essential  that  we  should 
have  the  faith  which  involves  submission  to  the  authority  of 
God— the  authority  which  appears  in  the  gospel  dispensation 
as  preeminent  love.  Thus  faith  brings  grace  and  secures  par- 
don, peace,  and  acceptance  with  God ;  it  secures  life  and  a 
participation  in  the  very  powers  and  essential  attributes  of 
God ;  it  brings  to  man  an  indwelling  power  for  life,  enabling 
him  to  live  out  that  life  with  which  he  is  endowed  by  the  grace 
and  goodness  of  God.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  the  source  of  en- 
ergy and  of  ability  for  all  service,  sacrifice,  and  enjoyment. 


88  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

But  still  faith  brings,  through  the  revelation  of  God  accepted 
in  the  soul,  all  these  benefits,  and  until  we  by  faith  take  them 
and  claim  them  for  ourselves  we  have  not  entered  upon  the 
life  of  blessing. 

The  first  duty  of  a  child  of  God  is  to  exercise  faith  by  be- 
lieving God's  Word  and  submitting  to  his  authority;  but  in 
order  to  secure  the  true  blessings  of  hfe  in  action  instead  of 
enjoyment  we  must  turn  the  objective  gifts  of  God  into  sub- 
jective experience  of  man.  We  must  do  this  by  the  exercise 
of  the  quality  which  the  Scriptures  call  trust.  Faith  is  totally 
distinct  from  trust ;  they  may  be  called  copartners,  but  are  not 
the  same  in  any  sense,  and  it  is  essential  that  we  should  under- 
stand the  difference  not  only  of  the  terms,  but  also  of  the  action 
involved  in  the  exercise  of  faith  and  of  trust.  No  life  of  rest, 
no  life  of  peace  and  joy  and  power,  can  ever  be  enjoyed  until 
the  Christian  takes  God's  gifts  by  faith,  and  by  trust  gives 
himself  into  God's  hands.  By  faith  we  claim  our  privileges ; 
by  trust  we  prove  that  we  have  taken  possession  of  the  gifts 
of  God,  and  that  they  have  become  to  us  what  God  intended 
them  to  be. 

Why  is  it  that  many  have  thus  far  lived  so  low  a  life  as 
Christians,  and  why  should  so  many  who  call  themselves  be- 
lievers not  even  be  so  much  of  believers  as  the  devils? — for  they 
do  not  even  tremble.  Alas  for  the  sinners  who  exceed  the 
devils  in  unbeHef !  The  very  devils  believe  and  tremble ;  men 
believe  and  calmly  sneer.  But  we  may  be  believers  in  the 
very  best  sense  of  the  word,  yet  we  may  not  have  been  trusters, 
and  only  as  such  can  we  really  attain  to  the  life  of  rest  and 
power. 

The  gospel  has  a  twofold  effect  wherever  it  is  rightly  preached 
to  the  unconverted.  St.  Paul  says  (2  Cor.  ii.  15)  that  we  who 
preach  ''are  unto  God  a  sweet  savor  of  Christ,  in  them  that 
are  saved,  and  in  them  that  perish  :  to  the  one  we  are  the  savor 
of  death  unto  death ;  and  to  the  other  the  savor  of  life  unto 


TRUST  89 

life."  The  gospel  brings  those  that  believe  into  the  possession 
of  hfe,  because  they  take  the  gift  of  God ;  it  brings  a  double 
sentence  of  death  upon  those  who  refuse,  because  they  reject 
the  free  offers  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Such  a  sentence  in- 
stinctively commends  itself  to  our  ideas  of  propriety  and  jus- 
tice. We  feel  that  God  could  not  do  otherwise  than  give  hfe 
where  he  has  provided  it  when  men  have  fulfilled  the  condi- 
tions of  belief,  and  that  he  cannot  but  refuse  life  to  those  who 
will  not  submit  themselves  to  the  righteousness  of  God,  which 
is  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  But  while  we  accept  those  words 
as  applicable  to  the  outside  world,  have  we,  as  Christians,  ever 
realized  that  those  terms  describe  the  twofold  action  of  the 
gospel  all  through  our  course  of  life  upon  earth?  The  opera- 
tion of  death  unto  death  and  of  hfe  unto  life  never  ceases  in 
the  behever  from  the  moment  that  he  first  accepts  the  gift 
of  God,  which  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Many  Christians  fail  to  realize  that  wherever  the  gospel  carries 
its  proper  force  it  is  continually  handing  over  to  death  what  is 
of  death,  and  passing  on  into  brighter  and  more  abundant  Hfe 
that  which  is  really  the  life  of  God  in  us.  Therefore  St.  Paul 
goes  on  to  say  (2  Cor.  iv.  10)  that  we  are  "always  bearing 
about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life 
also  of  Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in  our  body."  *  He 
then  adds,  "  So  then  death  worketh  in  us,  but  life  in  you." 
He  means,  I  suppose,  that  every  man  who  of  his  own  free  will 
gives  over  to  the  death  whatever  is  of  death— whatever  is 
mortal,  of  the  earth,  corrupt— finds  that  hfe  comes  into  that 
part  which  he  has  given  to  the  death  ;  he  finds  that  death  leads 
to  life,  and  that  this  is  the  only  way  to  live. 

Nothing  humbles  a  man  so  much  as  the  gospel,  for  it  causes 
us  to  realize  our  own  impotence  and  worthlessness.     Many 

*  A  contradiction  of  terms,  apparently;  nay,  simply  a  paradox,  but  a 
paradox  that  is  perfectly  explicable  by  the  teaching  of  God  in  the  Holy 
Ghost. 


90  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

have  thought  that  they  could  obtain  eternal  life  by  labor.  I 
would  to  God  that,  convinced  of  the  folly  of  trusting  to  self- 
righteousness  as  a  means  of  receiving  eternal  Hfe,  we  might 
never  forget  the  solemn  fact  that  after  receiving,  like  poor 
beggars,  the  gift  of  hfe  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  life  is  no 
longer  ours,  but  his ;  we  cannot  live  it,  he  must  hve  it  in  us ; 
we  cannot  work  it  out,  he  must  work  his  will  in  us.  But 
against  that  life  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
would  carry  out  in  us  there  arises  a  militant  body  of  enormous 
force  within  us,  resisting  the  Holy  Ghost  at  every  point,  so 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  must  work  his  way  point  by  point  through- 
out our  being.  How  is  this  to  be  obtained?  First  by  the 
recognition  of  the  fact,  and  then  by  the  glad  submission  of 
faith  to  the  will  of  God,  and  then  by  determinedly  throwing 
overboard  anything  that  would  be  an  obstacle  to  the  life  of  the 
Christ,  and  then  by  yielding  the  whole  self  to  God.  Begin  by 
yielding,  for  trust  is  the  outcome  proper  of  yielding.  Your 
nature  is  dead ;  therefore  you  must  give  up  death  to  death, 
and  take  the  hfe  which  is  his  gift  and  say,  "  It  is  thy  hfe,  let 
it  reign ;  I  yield  all,  but  I  have  Him ;"  and  the  life  of  the  Son 
of  God  will  be  manifest  even  in  your  mortal  body,  and  of 
course  still  more  in  your  soul  and  spirit. 

This  idea  of  trust  is  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  Apostle 
Paul  in  connection  with  the  trouble  which  befell  him  in  Asia, 
and  for  which  he  sought  relief  on  every  hand  (2  Cor.  i.  8). 
There  has  been  much  argument  as  to  what  was  the  trouble  of 
which  he  speaks,  but  I  care  not  what  the  occasion  was ;  it 
suffices  to  say  that  in  Paul's  experience  there  came  a  moment 
when  he  realized  that  he  was  in  the  very  face  of  death,  and 
the  pressure  upon  him  was  so  great  that  it  seemed  impossible 
for  him  to  obtain  dehverance.  He  looked  out,  he  looked 
around,  he  even  looked  up ;  but  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  no 
possibility  of  escape.  At  last  he  looked  in ;  and  then  he  says, 
**  Moreover  we  have  the  sentence  of  death  in  ourselves."     He 


TRUST  91 

looked  in  as  a  man  might  who  is  in  a  sinking  ship  in  the  midst 
of  the  broad  Atlantic,  and  who  realizes  from  the  face  of  the 
captain  and  the  sailors  that  there  is  no  hope,  no  possibility  of 
a  near  sail,  no  life-boat  ready,  and  who  at  last  looks  within  and 
says,  "  It  is  death ;  there  is  no  escape."  But  just  as  human 
despair  seizes  upon  him,  St.  Paul  turns  from  man,  he  turns 
from  circumstances,  he  turns  from  all  earthly  conditions,  and 
he  looks  up  into  the  face  of  God  and  says,  "  We  have  the 
sentence  of  death  in  ourselves,"  that  what?  — "  that  we  should 
not  trust  in  ourselves,  but  in  God  which  raiseth  the  dead."  Like 
Abraham  on  Mount  Moriah,  in  one  instant  his  gaze  goes  up  to 
God,  and  he  feels  that  God  can  deliver,  but  no  one  else  can. 
So  this  man  Paul  felt  that  there  was  no  deliverance  in  man,  no 
hope  in  himself,  but  that  this  was  the  moment  for  trusting 
God,  for  giving  up  his  whole  being  to  him.  This  is  trust  far 
more  than  faith ;  faith  takes,  trust  gives ;  by  trust  you  commit 
into  the  hand  of  God,  with  perfect  certainty  of  deliverance  and 
blessing,  that  which  in  itself  brought  you  nothing  but  the  ab- 
solute certainty  of  death. 

This  is  very  humbling,  but  the  gospel  was  never  meant  to 
pander  to  man's  pride.  Men  would  like  to  go  to  heaven  by 
human  toil ;  they  would  like  to  do  great  works  for  the  glory 
of  them ;  Christian  ministers  would  like  to  feel  that  a  magnifi- 
cent sermon  had  led  to  great  results  upon  the  world  at  large. 
No,  my  brother,  my  sister,  you  must  learn  that  you  first  must 
come  to  the  point  of  despair  of  self  and  of  everything  that  is 
human,  and  then  you  must  look  into  the  face  of  God  and 
acknowledge  that  he  alone  can  help  you,  and  then  he  will  give 
you  deliverance.  "He  hath  delivered  me  from  so  great  a 
death,  and  doth  deliver,"  says  St.  Paul.  But  what  about  the 
future?  "In  whom  we  trust  that  he  will  yet  deliver  us." 
Past,  delivered ;  present,  doth  deliver ;  future,  he  will  deliver. 

Men  too  frequently  say  to  themselves,  "  Well,  I  have  no  one 
else  to  trust  to,  so  I  will  say  that  I  trust  God.     I  would  take 


02  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

a  man  if  I  could  find  him ;  I  would  trust  myself  if  I  dared ;  I 
would  look  to  the  undertaker  to  keep  me  out  of  the  coffin  if  it 
were  possible ;  but  because  he  cannot  I  will  try  to  say  that  I 
will  trust  God."  Do  you  think  God  is  going  to  let  you  sneak 
into  heaven  in  that  way?  Do  you  think  God  will  give  you  the 
place  of  honor  when  you  give  him  the  place  of  humiliation  ? 
Give  God  the  glory.  How?  By  coming  to  this  blessed  con- 
dition which  St.  Paul  describes  in  himself.  When  you  look  in 
as  well  as  around  and  see  no  prospect  but  death,  then  look 
quietly  up  into  God's  face  and  say,  "Now,  Lord!  Now, 
Lord!"  For  twenty  years  those  two  little  words  have  been 
the  greatest  help  of  my  life—"  Now,  Lord!" 

Brother  clergy,  you  know  what  it  is  to  be  engaged  in  mak- 
ing the  finest  sermon  that  ever  a  man  preached,  and  when  you 
have  finished  sundry  beautiful  sentences,  and  are  just  evolving 
with  the  travail  of  spiritual  toil  the  most  perfect  sentence  of 
that  very  perfect  sermon,  suddenly  the  door  of  your  study  is 
assailed,  and  in  comes  the  little  domestic  and  says,  "Mr. Tomp- 
kins wants  to  see  you."  He  has  spoiled  the  best  sentence  that 
human  mind  ever  made!  "  Bother  Mr.  Tompkins!  "  Never 
say  "bother  "  again.  Because  the  very  moment  that  there  comes 
the  knock  at  the  door  which  has  spoiled  the  best  production 
that  humanity  ever  enjoyed,  God  can  step  in  and  give  a  better 
still.  When  I  lived  in  the  country,  and  was  working  away  at 
my  sermons  on  Saturday,  my  neighbors'  cows  used  to  break 
into  my  garden  and  spoil  that  "best  sermon,"  until  I  learned 
that  even  on  Saturday  morning  into  a  parson's  study  there 
could  come  the  living  God,  who  could  manage  the  sermon 
better  than  I  could.  If  you  will  only  learn  that  trust  comes 
when  you  have  reached  despair  you  will  have  learned  some- 
thing which  in  addition  to  the  doctrine  of  faith  will  make  your 
life  a  life  of  rest,  calm,  and  power.  I  love  to  feel  now  that 
when  ten  times  the  interruptions  come  in  a  London  study 
compared  with  what  I  used  to  have  in  the  country,  my  Lord 


TRUST  93 

is  still  sufficient  for  it,  but  that  he  wishes  a  servant  who  de- 
spairs of  himself.  You  must  despair  before  you  can  rest ;  you 
must  give  up  before  you  can  receive ;  you  must  give  out  be- 
fore you  can  enjoy  the  blessed  inflowing  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  the  revealer  of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord. 

But  there  is  something  further  which  is  meant  by  this  word 
trust.  It  is  very  distinct  in  the  original  from  our  word  faith. 
Faith  is  iriarig ;  trust  is  Txe-noiBa ;  nETToiOrjoigj  the  noun,  only 
comes  six  times  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is  only  once  trans- 
lated trust.*  In  the  other  five  passages  it  is  translated  conji- 
dence^  a  very  blessed  word,  but  it  is  not  the  same  as  trusty  be- 
cause confidence  and  boldness  (nappriaia)  are  the  outcome  of 
faith  and  trust.  Faith  takes  into  the  soul  what  God  in  his 
mercy  reveals,  and  believes  God  against  all  comers.  Trust 
hands  over  to  God  what  God  has  given  us  and  says,  "  Keep, 
Lord,  and  use,  for  I  cannot."  Then  comes  a  holy  confidence 
and  assurance  of  soul  which  prevents  us  from  ever  being  dis- 
turbed under  any  circumstances  whatever,  and  out  of  that 
confidence  there  comes  a  boldness  which  enables  us  to  act  for 
the  glory  of  God.  Faith,  when  it  has  conceived,  bringeth 
forth  trust ;  and  trust,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  confi- 
dence and  boldness. 

These  two,  faith  and  trust,  will  be  exercised  in  different 
ways.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  in  almost  every  case  faith 
is  described  as  exercising  itself  to  do  what  is  already  complete. 
It  takes  the  word  of  God,  which  is  already  spoken  ;  it  takes  the 
work  of  God,  which  is  already  accomplished ;  it  takes  the  Son 
of  God,  who  is  already  provided  ;  it  takes  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 
has  already  come  to  give  life  and  power  to  every  man  who 
will  receive  it.  Faith  is  always  taking  that  which  is  already 
provided  for  us  by  God,  and  it  matters  not  that  we  cannot 
fully  understand ;  we  beheve  God's  word,  because  we  believe 
that  he  cannot  lie. 

*  "  Such  trust  have  we  through  Christ  to  Godward"  (2  Cor.  iii.  4). 


94  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

But  now  we  must  go  a  step  further  in  order  to  be  fully 
blessed  in  every  part  of  our  lives.  We  must  now  evince  active 
trust  in  God  by  throwing  ourselves  upon  him  in  the  despair  of 
self  and  of  everything  earthly  and  human,  with  the  conviction 
that  as  we  abandon  ourselves  to  him  he  will  undertake  for  us 
and  carry  out  his  purposes  in  us.  You  may  think  that  it  is 
very  presumptuous  for  a  man  to  make  such  a  demand  of  God, 
especially  in  connection  with  your  earthly  business. 

A  friend  went  one  morning  to  the  house  of  the  great  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  and  found  him  with  a  large  number  of  letters 
lying  before  him ;  he  was  bowed  over  them  in  prayer.  The 
friend  retired,  and  returning  a  little  later,  said,  "  I  beg  your 
pardon  for  intruding  upon  your  private  devotions."  Sir  Rob- 
ert rephed,  "  No,  those  were  my  public  devotions ;  I  was  just 
giving  the  affairs  of  state  into  the  hands  of  God,  for  I  could 
not  manage  them."  If  you  will  just  hand  the  letter-bag  over 
to  the  Lord  you  will  find  that  you  can  trust  it  to  him.  It  may 
contain  vital  matters  to  your  firm,  to  your  nation,  perhaps, 
which  you  think  only  you  can  manage.  Try  trusting  the  liv- 
ing God  with  your  letter-bag  or  your  housekeeping;  do  not 
ever  fret  or  fidget  again;  put  everything  into  his  hands  and 
say,  "  Now,  Lord,  undertake  for  me."  That  is  quite  distinct 
from  faith.  For  instance,  I  am  in  a  very  difficult  situation, 
and  a  friend  tells  me  of  a  very  able  lawyer.  He  says,  "  I  for- 
get his  name,  but  I  will  write  to  you,  giving  you  his  address." 
I  receive  a  letter  from  him  the  next  morning  containing  the 
name  and  address  of  the  lawyer.  I  have  faith  in  my  friend's 
word  and  in  the  letter  that  contains  the  name  and  address  of 
the  lawyer.  I  have  not  yet  trusted  him  at  all,  but  now  I  go 
down  to  his  office  and  put  my  secrets  and  difficulties  into  his 
hands  and  say,  "Take  them,  and  I  will  leave  them  without 
a  fret  in  your  hands."  He  looks  at  them  and  says,  "  I  can 
manage  this  affair  without  the  slightest  trouble.  I  can  win 
your  case  without  a  shadow  of  a  doubt."     I  go  out  calm  and 


TRUST  95 

confident,  because  I  have  faith  in  the  power  of  that  lawyer, 
and  because  I  have  trusted  my  case  in  his  hands. 

Henry  Varley  used  to  tell  how,  when  he  was  in  America, 
he  once  walked  down  to  a  river's  edge  in  the  dead  of  winter, 
and  thought  that  the  ice  looked  rather  peculiar.  A  friend  who 
was  with  him  said,  "  It  will  bear ;  go  on."  He  put  out  his  stick 
and  felt  his  way  along  until  he  suddenly  saw  a  fellow  come 
down  with  a  team  of  four  horses  and  drive  right  over  the  ice. 
Then  he  said,  "  I  can  trust  it."  That  is  human  trust — trust  in 
earthly  things ;  trust  in  God  steps  out  into  the  dark  and  gives 
everything  into  his  hands  though  everything  seems  hopeless. 

In  the  Bible  faith  is  distinguished  from  trust  in  that  by  faith 
we  take  Jesus  Christ,  and  trust  takes  us  to  God  through 
Christ.  Let  us  see  how  it  acts.  Notice  how  sin  is  treated  of 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  First  there  is  the  sense  of  guilt. 
Faith  takes  the  doctrine  that  in  Christ  God  was  satisfied  in 
regard  to  me  as  a  sinner;  trust  goes  to  God  through  Christ 
and  says,  "  I  have  now  no  fear  of  judgment.  I  walk  up  to 
God  with  perfect  confidence  as  to  my  guilt,  for  it  is  put  away." 
Then  faith  takes  the  word  of  God  that  Christ  is  a  Saviour  from 
the  power  of  sin ;  trust  steps  out  into  the  place  of  difficulty 
into  which  God  calls  me,  believing  that  the  Christ  will  really 
deliver  me.  Faith  takes  the  doctrine  that  I  am  delivered  from 
the  action  of  death  in  sin ;  trust,  when  I  yield  myself  to  God 
as  a  man  that  is  alive  from  the  dead,  passes  my  whole  being 
into  God's  hands  for  keeping,  for  power,  for  service.  Faith 
takes  the  fact  that  there  is  no  condemnation ;  trust  believes 
that  there  is  no  separation,  and  that  I  am  joined  to  God  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  Thus  trust  is  to  be  exercised  in  every 
department  of  salvation. 

God  alone  knows  your  trial,  and  he  will  help  you.  Look 
your  trial  right  in  the  face  and  say,  like  St.  Paul,  "  I  cannot 
escape  ;  I  despair ;  the  sentence  is  death."  A  dear  one  may  be 
dying,  or  the  fell  sentence  of  the  physician  may  be  upon  your- 


gS  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

self ;  the  dark  trial  of  poverty  may  stare  you  in  the  face.  You 
say,  "  I  try  to  beheve  in  a  God  of  love,  but  I  am  very  greatly 
troubled ;  I  cannot  rest  night  or  day."  My  friend,  faith  is  not 
enough  there;  you  must  trust.  You  desired  life,  and  the 
answer  came  death.  Now  trust,  trust.  Alexander  the  Great 
had  a  physician  at  his  court  who  was  his  bosom  friend,  and 
we  are  told  that  Alexander  loved  him  greatly.  One  day  there 
came  an  anonymous  letter  on  a  waxed  tablet  to  the  king, 
which  read :  "  O  king,  thy  physician  purposes  to  kill  thee ; 
there  is  treachery  in  thy  court.  He  will  kill  thee  by  the  draft 
which  he  gives  thee  to-morrow,  under  the  plea  of  healing 
thee."  The  king  put  that  waxed  tablet  into  his  breast,  and 
the  next  day,  when  the  physician  came  to  give  him  the  draft 
that  was  for  the  healing  of  his  body,  he  put  out  his  left  hand 
and  took  the  cup,  and  at  the  same  time  with  his  right  hand  he 
pulled  forth  the  waxed  tablet  from  his  breast  and  handed  it  to 
the  physician,  and  said,  "  Friend,  I  trust  thee,"  and  drank  the 
potion  before  he  had  even  stopped  a  moment  to  see  the 
effect  of  that  letter  upon  the  physician.  That  was  trust.  My 
brother,  I  know  not  what  God's  draft  for  you  may  be,  but 

"  The  great  Physician  now  is  near, 
The  sympathizing  Jesus ; 
He  speaks  the  doubting  heart  to  cheer  — 
Oh,  hear  the  voice  of  Jesus!  " 

How  dare  you  doubt  the  great  Physician !  How  dare  you  say, 
"  My  God,  I  cannot,  I  cannot  go  forward  "!  BeHeve  that  the 
Lord  can.  Despair  of  self ;  the  Lord  comes  in  when  you  put 
out  your  soul  toward  him.  It  is  not  enough  to  beheve  that 
Jesus  is  the  great  Physician ;  you  must  trust  him.  We  trust 
the  steamer  every  time  we  cross  the  ocean ;  we  trust  the  cook 
every  time  we  partake  of  food.  What  fools  we  are  that  we 
do  not  trust  God  when  he  tells  us  to  look  up  to  him  and  lean 
hard  upon  him  through  Jesus! 


TRUST  97 

Lastly,  there  is  service  in  business,  service  in  the  home, 
service  in  the  church,  service  in  the  Sunday-school ;  and  you 
are  saying,  "  I  cannot,  I  cannot! "  How  often  ministers  settle 
down  to  write  a  sermon  and  say,  "  There  is  not  a  text  in  the 
Bible  that  will  do"!  I  one  day  said  to  Spurgeon,  "Brother 
Spurgeon,  did  you  ever  find  it  difficult  to  get  a  text  from  which 
to  preach?  The  Bible  sometimes  seems  to  me  Hke  a  blank 
wall  from  beginning  to  end,  without  a  text  in  it."  Spurgeon 
repHed,  "That  is  what  I  sometimes  feel.  When  I  was  a 
young  lad  in  Cambridge  I  lived  in  a  very  narrow  street  where 
the  roofs  of  the  houses  were  very  high.  My  room  was  not  a 
pleasant  one  ;  there  was  nothing  to  look  at  but  roofs.  I  began 
one  Monday  to  look  for  a  text.  I  could  not  find  one.  Tues- 
day came  and  I  had  none — Wednesday,  Thursday,  Friday— 
and  Saturday  I  was  in  despair.  I  said,  'Well,  Lord,  I  sup- 
pose that  in  the  country  I  will  get  a  text.'  So  I  started  out  to 
go  for  a  walk ;  but  just  then  there  came  a  rain,  and  I  had  no 
chance  of  leaving  my  room.  Four  o'clock  came  and  there 
was  not  a  text  in  the  Bible.  All  at  once  I  heard  a  twitter, 
twitter,  twitter,  and  there  were  a  whole  flock  of  sparrows  under 
the  eaves  just  outside  of  my  window,  pecking  at  a  canary.  I 
had  my  text  in  a  moment :  *  Mine  heritage  is  unto  me  as  a 
speckled  bird,  the  birds  round  about  are  against  her.'  "  *  God 
gave  him  his  sermon,  and  when  you  come  to  despair  in  your- 
self God  comes  to  the  rescue. 

In  i860  I  went  for  the  first  time  to  see  York  Cathedral.  I 
reached  there  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  sat 
down  in  a  corner.  I  happened  when  a  child  to  lose  my 
left  eye,  and  I  did  not  see  that  there  was  a  man  sitting  next 
to  me.  I  was  suddenly  moved  by  the  beauty  of  the  place  to 
say  aloud,  "What  a  grand  building!  what  a  wonderful  build- 
ing! how  splendid!  thank  God!"     A  voice  at  my  side  said, 

*  Jeremiah  xii.  9. 


98  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

"  Yes,  it  is  very  beautiful."  I  turned,  and  there  at  my  left 
sat  an  old  man  about  seventy-five  years  of  age,  in  a  smock- 
frock,  with  a  stick  in  his  hand ;  he  looked  very  sad,  and  very, 
very  hungry.  After  talking  with  him  for  a  moment  I  put  my 
hand  in  my  pocket  and  pulled  out  eighteenpence  (thirty-six 
cents)  —  I  was  a  poor  fellow  and  had  very  little  money.  I 
know  not  why  I  did  it.  In  an  instant  the  old  man  said,  as  I 
rose  up  to  go,  "  Stop,  sir ;  you  won't  be  ashamed  to  take  an 
old  man's  blessing,  will  you  ?  Do  you  know  what  you  have 
done  for  me?  You  have  just  saved  my  life.  I  had  word  last 
evening  that  my  daughter  was  dying,  so  I  started  off  and 
walked  into  York  last  night,  and  arrived  with  fourpence  in  my 
pocket.  I  went  to  a  lodging-house,  and  found  they  would  give 
me  a  dirty  bed  for  twopence  and  a  clean  one  for  fourpence. 
Father  always  told  me  to  keep  clean,  and  I  did  not  think, 
though  I  was  hungry,  that  he  would  wish  me  to  go  to  bed 
dirty ;  so  I  took  the  clean  bed  for  fourpence,  and  trusted 
Father.  I  came  here  at  seven  o'clock  this  morning  to  Father's 
house,  that  I  might  talk  to  him,  and  I  have  been  waiting  un- 
til Father  sent  the  bread.  I  knew  he  would  send  it,  and  you 
are  his  messenger."  I  said,  "  You  don't  mean  that  you  have 
been  here  since  seven  o'clock  this  morning  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  It 
is  seven  o'clock  at  night ;  and  have  you  had  nothing?  "  He 
said,  "  I  have  just  been  waiting  Father's  time.  It  is  Father's 
time  now,  and  he  has  sent  you."  I  put  my  hand  into  my 
pocket  and  took  out  all  I  had— three  or  four  pounds — and 
said,  "  Take  what  you  Hke."  He  looked  me  in  the  face  and 
said,  "  Sir,  how  dare  you!  Father  told  you  what  to  give,  and 
do  you  suppose  he  doesn't  know  how  to  find  more  when  it  is 
needed?  I  cannot  touch  a  penny  that  Father  did  not  send. 
You  have  given  all  that  Father  wanted  me  to  have,  bless  you !  " 
And  he  gave  me  such  a  blessing,  putting  his  hands  on  my 
shoulders  and  praying  to  God  to  use  me  all  through  life,  and 


TRUST  99 

to  make  me  a  vessel  to  carry  God's  grace ;  and  that  old  man's 
prayer  has  clung  to  me  for  thirty-five  years,  and  I  bless  God 
for  it.  My  brethren,  despair  of  self,  and  then  trust  in  the  hv- 
ing  God,  "  who  hath  delivered,  and  doth  deliver :  in  whom  we 
trust  that  he  will  yet  dehver." 


FELLOWSPnP   WITH    JESUS: 

PETER  AND  JOHN  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  PENTECOST 


"  Now  when  they  saw  the  boldness  of  Peter  and  John,  and  perceived 
that  they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  they  marveled ;  and  they  took 
knowledge  of  them,  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus." — Acts  iv.  13. 

THE  whole  sanhedrim,  the  ecclesiastical  council  of  the 
Jews,  had  met  to  deliberate  upon  a  very  remarkable  case 
which  had  occurred  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole  city.  A 
lame  man  above  forty  years  of  age,  who  never  had  walked 
from  his  mother's  womb,  had  suddenly  been  seen  to  leap  up, 
to  stand,  to  walk,  and  to  enter  joyfully  into  the  temple  with 
two  peasants  from  Galilee,  and  there  to  sing  the  praises  of 
God.  When  this  learned  council  endeavored  to  discover  the 
causes  which  had  given  rise  to  such  a  marvelous  event  nothing 
more  could  be  discovered  to  account  for  it  than  that  the  men 
who  had  wrought  this  wonderful  cure  said  it  was  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  that  this  lame  man  was  enabled  to 
rise  up  and  walk ;  furthermore,  as  the  members  of  the  council 
observed  these  men  and  consulted  concerning  them,  they  were 
compelled  to  acknowledge  that  the  wonder  workers  had  been 
with  Jesus,  but  the  marvel  remained  unintelligible  to  them  all. 
This  striking  narrative  is  one  of  the  Christian's  battle-axes 
wherewith  to  meet  the  infidel  or  the  opponent  of  the  divine 
revelation;  because  historically  there  is  now  no  question 
among  critics,  however  severe  or  high  they  may  be,  that  the 

100 


FELLOIVSHIP   IVITH  JESUS  loi 

Acts  of  the  Apostles  contains  the  record  of  facts  which  are 
incontrovertible.*  The  account  of  this  miracle  stands  as  a 
magnificent  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  and  to  the 
marvelous  power  which  Christ  can  give  to  those  who  put  their 
trust  in  him,  however  feeble,  however  foolish  they  may  appear 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

The  world  would  think  it  a  very  marvelous  thing  indeed  if 
in  these  days  two  common  peasants  from  one  of  our  country 
villages  were  brought  and  placed  before  the  learned,  the  eccle- 
siastical, and  the  temporal  power  of  one  of  our  great  cities, 
and  could  prove  in  the  face  of  the  whole  assembly  that  they 
had  wrought  an  incontrovertible  miracle  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Nazareth.  But  there  is  still  power  in  the  gospel  to 
meet  its  opponents  on  every  hand.  What  can  the  world  ever 
say  when  two  such  unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  with  no 
ecclesiastical  authority,  come  forward  without  one  shadow  of 
doubt  or  fear,  and  stand  calm  and  collected  in  the  presence 
of  the  greatest  power  before  which  the  Jewish  nation  could 
bring  any  culprit,  and  can  quietly  say,  "  We  are  not  anxious  or 
troubled  concerning  this  matter ;  we  simply  tell  you  that  in  the 
name  and  through  faith  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Naza- 
reth this  man  stands  before  you  whole  "?  But  this  is  not  all. 
It  is  not  only  a  glorious  miracle  arguing  for  the  truth  of  the 
gospel,  but  under  it  there  lies  a  spiritual  principle  to  which  I 
wish  to  direct  your  attention.  In  the  picture  before  us  we  have 
a  very  remarkable  proof  of  the  power  which  the  Lord  Jesus 

*  It  is  quite  unnecessary  in  the  present  instance  to  argue  as  to  the  au- 
thenticity and  the  credibility  of  the  Book  of  Acts,  though  that  may  be 
done  on  other  occasions.  As  believers  in  God's  holy  Word  we  accept  the 
records  upon  the  basis  upon  which  they  have  been  established,  and  can 
say  without  hesitation,  I  hope,  that  from  Genesis  i.  I  to  Revelation  xxii. 
21  we  believe  every  word  in  that  blessed  Book  to  have  come  direct  from 
God ;  that  is,  in  the  original.  At  the  same  time  we  may  gladly  use  the 
natural  faculties  given  to  us  to  place  against  our  enemies  the  argument 
V'hich  they  cannot  answer. 


I02  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

Christ  confers  upon  those  who,  in  the  spiritual  and  deeper 
sense  of  the  words,  have  been  with  him. 

In  the  Hfe  of  Christ  on  earth  there  were  several  stages,  and 
it  was  not  until  he  was  raised  from  the  dead  by  God  the 
Father  that  the  real  greatness  of  his  power  began  to  be  felt 
over  the  world  at  large.  It  is  only  as  we  come  into  the 
resurrection  hfe  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  we  too  be- 
come partakers  of  his  power;  we  are  intended  to  hve  that 
resurrection  life  in  all  the  glories  of  the  ascended  existence  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  just  as  Jesus  Christ  lives  it,  hmited  only 
by  our  imperfection  of  body,  mind,  and  spirit.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  many  feel  that  such  a  life  is  practically  impossible 
for  the  large  majority  even  of  earnest  Christians.  They  can 
see  that  it  is  very  beautiful  and  desirable,  and  may  be  attained 
by  a  few,  but  they  think  that  for  ordinary  men  of  business,  or 
for  women  surrounded  by  the  difficulties  of  society  and  home 
life,  these  things  are  literally  impossible.  This  mighty  resur- 
rection power,  this  glorious  life  of  rest,  peace,  privilege,  and 
possibility  in  the  presence  of  the  most  potent  foes  that  can  be 
brought  to  bear  against  us,  is,  however,  exhibited  in  the  case 
of  men  who  had  not  even  one  half  of  the  advantages  which 
we  possess ;  therefore,  to  say  that  it  is  not  possible  for  me  is 
to  falsify  the  teaching  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  as  transmitted 
to  us ;  it  is  to  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  to  bring 
shame  and  dishonor  upon  our  Christian  profession.  Whatever 
shame  it  may  cost  you  to  think  of  your  past,  I  beseech  you  to 
realize  that  it  is  possible  for  you  to  live  henceforth  a  life  of 
holiness  and  of  power,  and  to  glorify  God  before  all  the  world 
in  your  spirit  and  your  body,  which  are  his.  It  is  possible  just 
in  proportion  as  we  have  been  with  Jesus,  not  only,  as  some 
teach,  in  the  sense  of  following  Christ  as  imitators  of  his 
earthly  life,  simply  admiring  the  7fia?i  for  his  self-sacrifice  and 
for  the  beauty  of  his  character  and  conduct,  but,  deeper  far 
than  all  that,  we  must  be  with  Jesus  in  the  actual  reahties  of 


FELLOIVSHIP   IVITH  JESUS  103 

his  death,  his  burial,  his  resurrection,  and  his  ascension  to  the 
throne  of  God  the  Father.  It  was  only  this  which  enabled 
those  poor  unlearned  peasants  to  speak  that  day  in  terms  that 
could  not  be  controverted  even  by  the  sanhedrim  of  Jerusalem 
itself. 

If  we  trace  out  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  the  characters  of 
these  two  men,  Peter  and  John,  prior  to  this  event,  we  will 
observe  that  in  every  point  they  furnish  us  with  illustrations  of 
the  very  infirmities,  the  very  faults,  the  very  failures,*  of  which 
we  speak  as  being  unavoidable.  But  they  also  illustrate  the 
wonders  which  the  Lord  God  can  work  in  men  who  have  truly 
entered  into  fellowship  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  suf- 
ferings, in  his  resurrection,  and  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  which 
he  is  now  enabled  to  bestow. 

The  Apostle  Peter  loved  the  Lord  Jesus  as  I  suppose  very 
few  of  us  have  ever  loved  him.  If  any  man  could  be  said  to 
have  had  a  grand  passion  toward  another  Peter  might  be  said 
to  have  felt  such  a  love  toward  the  person  of  Jesus,  the  Teacher 
from  Gahlee.  He  loved  his  Lord  with  an  ineffable  love,  as  a 
leader,  as  a  friend,  as  an  exalted  instructor,  and  as  a  pattern. 
He  himself  says  that  he  had  given  up  all  to  follow  him,  as 
very  few  of  us  have  done.  But  although  Peter  is  a  pattern  of 
impassioned,  devoted  friendship  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as 
his  Leader  and  Guide,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  all  the 
four  Gospels  there  is  not  a  single  instance  recorded  concern- 
ing Peter  in  which  he  did  not  fail  and  fall,  even  up  to  the  very 
night  of  our  Lord's  crucifixion. 

St.  Matthew  begins  his  historical  account  of  our  Saviour's 
ministry  at  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  his  Gospel,  after  he  has 

*  I  do  not  mean  to  traduce  the  great  men  of  God,  but  to  glorify  God  by 
showing  what  a  wonderful  transformation  Jesus  can  work  in  men  who  up 
to  a  certain  point  in  their  existence  were  unquestionably  two  of  the  most 
pitiable  failures  ever  described  to  men,  but  who  at  a  later  period  in  their 
lives  illustrate  the  beauty  of  holiness. 


104  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

recorded  that  great  sermon  containing  the  seven  parables. 
From  that  point  onward  we  read  in  every  chapter  that  Peter 
falls  into  some  despicable  sin,  some  mean  folly  of  which  we 
should  be  rightly  ashamed,  and  yet  for  which  we  try  to  excuse 
ourselves. 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  we  read  that  our  Lord  is  walk- 
ing upon  the  waves  the  night  after  he  has  fed  the  five  thou- 
sand. Peter  sees  him,  and  with  his  impetuous  love  and 
devotion  cries  out,  "  Lord,  if  it  be  thou,  bid  me  come  unto 
thee  on  the  water."  Jesus  answers,  "  Come."  Peter  steps 
out  upon  the  water ;  but  suddenly  he  sinks,  and  the  Master  is 
obHged  to  reproach  him  at  once  with  the  sin  of  all  sins  of 
which  we  are  guilty :  "  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst 
thou  doubt  ?  "  Are  you  in  your  experience  thus  far  a  com- 
panion of  Peter? 

A  little  later  Peter  comes  to  Jesus  and  says  (fifteenth  chap- 
ter) that  he  does  not  at  all  understand  the  parable  with  regard 
to  the  uncleanness  of  the  natural  heart ;  he  says,  "  I  cannot 
think  that  the  heart  of  man  is  really  as  bad  as  you  say."  The 
Lord  again  has  to  rebuke  Peter  and  say,  "  Do  not  even  you 
who  profess  to  follow  me  understand  the  depravity  of  man,  the 
vileness  of  the  human  heart,  and  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
man's  natural  life?" 

Again,  in  the  same  chapter,  Peter  stands  before  Christ  with 
the  other  disciples  when  the  poor  woman  from  Tyre  and  Sidon 
is  asking  that  her  daughter  may  be  dehvered  from  the  devil, 
and  it  is  Peter  who  voices  the  thoughts  of  them  all  when  he 
says  to  Jesus,  "  Send  her  away ;  for  she  crieth  after  us."  Do 
you,  my  brother,  my  sister,  recognize  no  kinship  with  Peter  in 
this  desire  to  shut  out  others  who  may  draw  away  the  attention 
of  the  Lord  from  yourself  ? 

In  the  sixteenth  chapter  Peter  makes  that  grand  confession, 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Hving  God."  But  very 
shortly  after  that  Peter  has  to  be  spoken  to  by  Christ  in  these 


FELLOPySHIP   IVITH  JESUS  105 

words :  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan :  thou  art  an  offense  unto 
me :  for  thou  savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those 
that  be  of  men."  Peter,  who  loves  Jesus  and  speaks  of  fol- 
lowing him  with  all  his  heart  and  soul,  actually  has  to  be  de- 
nominated Satan,  the  darkest  name  that  could  be  given  to  a 
man  by  the  mouth  of  the  tender  Jesus,  because  he  is  trying  to 
obtain  the  crown  without  ever  bearing  the  cross. 

The  Master  takes  Peter,  James,  and  John  into  the  mount 
to  witness  the  transfiguration  (chapter  seventeen),  and  Peter 
steps  to  the  front  and  says,  "  Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be 
here :  ...  let  us  make  here  three  tabernacles ;  one  for  thee, 
and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Ehas  "—not  knowing  what 
he  said.  Again  the  desire  to  gain  the  crown  without  the  cross, 
for  which  he  had  just  before  been  rebuked  ;  the  hope  of  glory 
without  the  suffering ;  always  seeking  rewards  from  the  Lord 
without  bearing  the  pains  of  the  Master's  agony. 

Again  Peter  comes  before  the  Lord  when  he  has  been  teach- 
ing men  about  forgiveness  and  love  (eighteenth  chapter),  and 
he  says,  "How  often  am  I  to  do  this  ?  Am  I  to  forgive  my 
brother  seven  times?  "  "  Not  seven,"  says  Jesus,  "  but  seventy 
times  seven."  Ah,  brethren,  has  Christ  ever  spoken  to  you  as 
he  spoke  to  Peter?  You  must  learn  to  forgive  on  and  on 
forever,  even  as  God  the  Father,  for  Christ's  sake,  has  forgiven 
you. 

The  nineteenth  chapter  describes  Peter  standing  before  the 
Lord  and  saying,  "  We  have  forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee ; 
what  shall  we  have  therefore?  "  A  bargaining  with  Christ  for 
rewards  because  of  the  devotion  to  service  which  sprang  from 
love,  but  which  is  calculating  how  much  it  can  obtain  from 
the  Christ  of  what  it  really  desires. 

In  the  twentieth  chapter  we  read  that  ten  disciples  are  bit- 
terly indignant  against  two,  because  two  have  come  with  their 
mother  to  ask  for  the  best  place  in  the  kingdom.  Peter  must 
therefore  have  been  one  of  the  grumblers,  who  were  fearing 


io6  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

lest  a  better  place  might  be  given  to  James  and  John  than  they 
could  hope  to  enjoy.     It  is  a  sad  picture. 

In  the  twenty-sixth  chapter*  we  enter  upon  the  history  of 
the  last  days  of  our  Lord's  life.  There  are  no  less  than  three 
distinct  failures  on  the  part  of  Peter  narrated  in  this  one  chap- 
ter. In  the  thirty-third  verse  he  says,  boastfully,  "  Though  all 
men  shall  be  offended  because  of  thee,  yet  will  I  never  be 
offended."  Soon,  however,  we  find  him  follov/ing  Jesus  afar 
off,  after  having  slept  in  the  garden.  He  runs  away  from  his 
Lord  when  persecution  arises,  and  tries  to  sneak  into  the  back 
door  of  the  palace  of  the  high  priest  to  see  if  he  cannot  obtain 
tidings  of  what  is  happening.  There  he  sits  warming  himself 
among  the  enemies  of  Jesus,  and  three  times  declares  with  an 
oath,  "  I  tell  you  I  know  not  the  man." 

It  may  seem  somewhat  uncharitable  to  call  attention  to  the 
faults  of  Peter  in  this  way,  but  I  have  done  it  to  show  that 
although  he  followed  Jesus  with  peculiar  heart-devotion  for 
three  whole  years,  yet  on  the  last  night  of  Jesus'  earthly  life- 
after  these  three  years  of  fellow^ship— the  Master  was  compelled 
to  say  to  him,  "  I  have  prayed  for  thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not : 
and  w/ien  thoic  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren." 

Now  consider  for  one  moment  the  character  of  John. 
There  is  much  less  recorded  concerning  him  during  our  Lord's 
Hfe  than  concerning  Peter,  who  was  always  pushing  to  the 
front ;  but  in  all  the  record  of  Jesus'  life  upon  earth  not  one 
good  word  is  said  about  John  up  to  the  night  of  our  Lord's 
death,  when  John  leaned  on  the  Saviour's  breast.  In  every 
historical  statement  concerning  John  we  find  the  same  evil 
characteristics,  the  same  failure,  faults,  feebleness,  and  sin, 
which  we  have  noticed  in  his  brother  apostle.  John  is  present 
with  Peter  and  James  at  the  transfiguration  of  Christ,  and  he 

*  From  the  twenty-first  chapter  through  the  twenty-fifth  we  have  our 
Lord's  teachings  following  the  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem  on  the 
Sunday  before  he  was  crucified. 


FELLOIVSHIP   IVITH  JESUS  107 

falls  asleep  like  the  others  when  he  should  have  been  awake. 
Not  long  after,  as  the  son  of  Zebedee,  he  says,  ''  Shall  we  call 
down  fire  upon  these  people  because  they  will  not  receive 
thee?  "  What  narrow  bigotry  and  censorious  sinfulness  are 
here  shown  by  John,  the  apostle  of  love!  He  wishes  to  call 
down  fire  from  heaven  upon  any  man  who  will  not  do  just  as 
he  thinks  he  should.  Again  (Mark  x.  37)  he  comes  with  his 
brother  and  says,  "  Lord,  give  us  the  best  places  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  on  thy  right  and  thy  left."  This  was  the  man 
whose  character  and  epistles  we  have  so  much  admired,  and 
yet,  like  Peter,  John  who  lay  on  Christ's  bosom,  John  who 
whispered  secrets  into  Christ's  ear  and  had  the  secrets  of 
Christ  whispered  into  his  ear,  falls  fast  asleep  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  runs  away  like  a  coward  when  danger  comes, 
and  enters  the  hall  of  the  high  priest  only  because  he  happens 
to  be  acquainted  with  some  one  there. 

This  is  the  history  of  these  two  men  up  to  the  night  of 
Christ's  death.  Nine  weeks  later  they  again  come  to  our 
notice  in  the  events  recorded  in  these  early  chapters  of  the 
Acts;  but  did  you  ever  realize  that  such  a  change  in  men's 
character  and  conduct  was  possible  as  we  see  in  these  two 
apostles?    Are  you  prepared  to  apply  the  parable  to  yourself? 

John,  the  Boanerges,  the  ''  son  of  thunder,"  who  in  former 
days  was  seeking  to  obtain  the  best  place  in  Christ's  kingdom, 
now  stands  up  meek,  gentle,  patient,  and  silent,  without  utter- 
ing one  word,  so  far  as  we  know,  throughout  the  course  of  the 
narrative.  In  some  mysterious  way  his  natural  hotness  of 
temper,  the  readiness  to  speak,  the  desire  for  chief  place,  are 
held  in  check,  and  he  allows  Peter  to  have  the  whole  credit 
for  the  miracle,  and  the  opportunity  of  speaking.  Peter,  the 
coward  who  nine  weeks  before  was  afraid  of  a  maid-servant 
and  cursed  and  swore  that  he  knew  not  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
now  stands  boldly  before  the  whole  multitude  in  the  streets 
and  says,  "  Ye  murderers,  ye  desired  a  murderer  to  be  given 


io8  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

up  unto  you,  and  ye  killed  the  Prince  of  life."  Then  he  and 
John  go  before  the  council  which  has  their  hves  in  its  hands, 
and  Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  says,  quietly  and  calmly, 
"  We  are  not  at  all  anxious  concerning  this  matter,  nor  do  we 
care  a  straw  for  what  you  say ;  we  can  but  speak  the  things 
which  we  have  seen  and  heard.  If  you  ask  us  how  that  man 
was  cured,  know  that  it  is  by  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, whom  ye  crucified,  whom  God  hath  raised  up,  that  this 
man  stands  before  you  whole."  It  is  a  wonderful  change :  the 
coward  has  become  a  very  lion  in  boldness ;  the  man  that  was 
full  of  bitterness  and  censorious  bigotry  has  become  a  very 
lamb  in  gentleness.  There  is  a  marvelous  transformation  in 
each  of  them ;  they  have  become  bold,  tender,  humble,  brave, 
patient,  loving,  and  full  of  pity,  in  a  way  that  is  altogether 
unaccountable  until  we  apprehend  the  cause. 

The  sanhedrim  made  inquiry  concerning  these  men ;  they 
inquired  in  all  directions  by  what  possible  means  these  peas- 
ants could  have  been  able  to  perform  such  a  miracle  and  now 
could  boldly  stand  there  before  them.  They  perceived  them 
to  be  unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  and  all  that  they  could  dis- 
cover with  regard  to  them  was  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus. 

In  these  days,  when  there  is  a  tendency  even  in  some 
churches  to  abandon  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  by  the 
vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  and  propitiation  through  his  blood, 
and  when  men  are  beginning  to  preach  only  the  nobility  of 
the  life  of  Christ,  and  to  beg  men  simply  to  follow  him  in  the 
beautiful  simplicity  of  his  character  and  conduct,  assuring  them 
that  this  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  bring  them  into  conformity 
to  his  image,  it  is  well  for  us  to  consider  how  different  the 
gospel  of  Christ  is  from  such  teaching.  Here  are  two  men 
who  of  all  men  in  the  world  would  be  cited  as  men  devoted  to 
Jesus  the  Teacher.  No  man  ever  gave  up  more  than  these 
men  gave  up,  or  followed  Jesus  more  closely,  or  studied  more 
earnestly  to  be  conformed  to  his  image,  than  did  Peter  and 


FELLOIVSHIP   IVITH  JESUS  109 

John.  Three  years  of  perpetual  fellowship  with  him  in  the 
flesh,  daily  seeing  the  beauty  of  his  character,  produce  nothing 
in  them  but  miserable  failure  in  their  own  character  and  con- 
duct. But  nine  weeks  after  Christ's  death  they  are  completely 
changed.  Can  you  explain  the  cause  of  such  a  change  ?  I 
find  the  explanation  in  the  words  of  the  sanhedrim— spoken 
all  unconscious  of  their  deep  meaning—"  They  had  been  with 
Jesus."  They  had  been  in  companionship  with  Jesus,  but  that 
sufficed  not.  They  had  been  following  Jesus,  but  that  sufficed 
not.  They  had  been  learning  of  Jesus,  but  that  sufficed  not. 
Then  where  had  they  been  with  Jesus  to  bring  about  such 
wondrous  results? 

Remember  that  these  two  are  the  only  ones  of  all  the  dis- 
ciples whom  history  describes  as  having  gone  through  the 
scenes  of  Christ's  trial  and  death,  visiting  the  grave,  and  then, 
with  the  other  disciples,  seeing  him  after  his  resurrection,  and 
being  made  partakers  of  the  promise  of  the  Father,  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  upon  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Here  stand 
these  two  men  on  the  Passover  night,  feeble,  faulty  failures,  as 
all  must  acknowledge.  But  after  Jesus  has  been  taken  away 
to  the  high  priest's  hall  John  first  comes  out  with  the  words, 
"  I  think  that  I  am  just  well  enough  acquainted  with  the  peo- 
ple there  to  get  into  the  council-hall ;  and,  Peter,  we  shall  be 
able  to  see  what  is  happening  there."  "  No,"  says  Peter,  "  I 
cannot  face  it ;  it  is  too  much."  But  John  goes  in  and  listens. 
By  and  by  some  one  tells  him  that  his  friend  Peter  is  at  the 
door,  and  he  goes  out  and  speaks  to  him.  Peter  comes  sneak- 
ing inside  the  hall,  but  at  first  stands  in  the  dark,  and  then 
gradually  he  draws  nearer  to  the  fire  out  by  the  door.  It  was 
there  that  the  maid  accused  him,  and  that  he  cursed  and 
swore  that  he  knew  not  Jesus.  But  the  Lord  turned  and 
looked  on  Peter,  and  gave  another  look,  I  suppose,  to  John, 
who  was  also  in  the  hall.  My  brother,  my  sister,  has  Christ 
given  you  such  a  look?     Jesus  stood  at  the  bar  in  that  judg- 


no  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

ment-hall  as  your  representative,  and  he  who  gave  his  life  for 
you  will  one  day  look  at  you  from  his  own  judgment-seat. 
Will  he  look  as  he  looked  at  Peter,  his  glance  penetrating  into 
his  very  heart  and  telling  him,  "  You  are  a  coward,  you  are  a 
liar,  you  are  a  vile,  miserable  deserter  "?  He  would  not  speak 
it;  only  his  eye  said  it;  but  one  look  and  Peter's  heart  was 
broken ;  he  went  out  and  wept  bitterly  when  he  thought  how 
he  had  basely  denied  his  Lord. 

John  is  the  only  man  of  all  Christ's  friends,  so  far  as  we 
know,  who  stands  beneath  the  cross  of  Jesus.  By  his  side  is 
Jesus'  mother,  and  Jesus,  looking  on  the  disciple  whom  he 
loved,  says,  "Behold  thy  mother."  Those  words  and  that 
look  broke  the  heart  of  John  and  taught  him  love.  Peter  had 
learned  his  lesson  by  a  look,  and  now  John  by  a  look  and  the 
words  from  the  cross  learned  what  no  other  disciple  ever 
learned ;  he  saw  right  into  the  heart  of  Jesus  as  he  hung  upon 
Calvary's  cross,  and  Jesus'  death  became  to  him  what  it  was 
to  no  other  man  upon  earth ;  from  that  time  both  Peter  and 
John  began  to  see  the  meaning  of  the  death  of  the  Son  of 
man,  but  as  yet  they  understood  no  further.  He  died,  and 
they  loved  him  and  entered  into  his  death,  but  they  had  not 
yet  progressed  any  further  by  faith. 

Now  the  third  day  after  this  scene,  early  in  the  morning, 
there  comes  a  woman— bless  the  women!  they  are  always  to 
the  front  in  their  trust  in  Jesus— Mary  comes  as  the  first  mes- 
senger from  the  grave  to  Peter  and  John,  and  she  says,  "  They 
have  taken  away  the  Lord  out  of  the  sepulcher,  and  we  know 
not  where  they  have  laid  him."  Out  go  Peter  and  John,  the 
only  two,  and  the  one  outruns  the  other  and  stands  looking 
wonderingly  into  the  sepulcher ;  the  other,  Peter,  rushing  up 
afterward,  enters  into  the  grave,  sees  it  all,  and  retires ;  John, 
we  are  told,  "saw  and  believed."  It  is  now  not  only  death, 
it  is  resurrection.  They  have  the  resurrection  truth  in  their 
souls.    John  is  the  first  of  all  the  disciples  to  believe  the  grand 


FELLOIVSHIP   IVITH  JESUS  m 

truth  that  the  Son  of  man  should  suffer  upon  Calvary's  cross, 
should  rise  the  third  day,  and  that  forevermore  death  hath  no 
more  dominion  over  him.  Consequently  when  Jesus  comes  to 
the  Lake  of  Galilee  to  visit  the  fishermen  in  their  distress,  it  is 
John  who  says,  with  the  perception  of  faith  that  none  of  the 
others  have,  "  It  is  the  Lord."  What  a  blessing  it  would  be 
if  we  had  faith  to  be  the  first  to  discern  the  Lord!  Now  the 
impetuous  Peter  dashes  through  the  water  to  the  shore  and 
throws  himself  at  Jesus'  feet.  Jesus  had  already  given  a 
special  revelation  to  Peter  on  the  day  of  his  resurrection,  and 
yet  Peter  had  not  beheved.  His  heart  was  hardened  concern- 
ing the  truth  of  the  resurrection,  until  Jesus  came  that  morn- 
ing to  the  Sea  of  Galilee ;  then  Peter,  too,  saw  and  believed, 
and  from  that  moment  was  a  changed  man. 

Now  the  Lord  has  one  word  to  say  concerning  each  of 
these  two.  To  Peter  he  says,  ''  When  thou  wast  young,  thou 
girdedst  thyself,  and  walkedst  whither  thou  wouldest:  but 
when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thy  hands,  and 
another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldest 
not."  Peter  was  to  die  a  martyr's  death;  he  was  to  learn 
what  it  meant  to  follow  Jesus,  not  by  the  mere  force  of 
example,  but  in  the  power  of  the  cross,  in  the  power  of  the 
resurrection,  and  in  the  power  of  the  life  which  Jesus  bestowed 
when  he  breathed  upon  them  and  said,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost."  They  became  endowed  with  a  gift  which  they  did 
not  yet  understand,  but  which  was  nevertheless  theirs  by  pos- 
session and  possibility.  They  were  obliged  to  wait  for  the 
full  comprehension  of  it  until  Pentecost,  when  they  saw  its 
force  and  its  power.  Concerning  John,  Jesus  says,  "  If  I  will 
that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  follow  thou 
me."  Peter  knows  that  he  must  be  a  martyr  for  Christ ;  John 
hopes  that  he  may  live  to  see  the  Master  return.  Notice  the 
difference,  and  you  will  be  struck  immediately  by  the  remark- 
able contrast  in  their  teaching  from  that  time  forward. 


112  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

Just  forty  days  after  our  Lord's  resurrection  he  ascends  into 
heaven ;  ten  days  later  the  disciples,  who  have  returned  rejoic- 
ing from  Mount  Olivet  to  Jerusalem,  are,  with  one  accord,  in 
one  place  gathered  together  for  prayer.  It  is  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost, and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  poured  out  on  that  little  company. 
Now  see  the  change  in  those  two  men.  The  coward  who 
cringed  before  a  common  servant-maid  at  the  door,  and  swore 
that  he  never  knew  who  Jesus  was,  stands  out  boldly  before 
all  Jerusalem  and  preaches  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  through  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  on  every  street  corner.  St.  Luke 
gives  us  some  report  of  his  sermon,  and  shows  how  Peter  on 
that  day  was  enabled  to  preach  so  that  three  thousand  believed. 
Instead  of  the  quarrelsome  bitternesses  that  pervaded  the 
company  up  to  the  night  of  Christ's  crucifixion,  they  now  have 
all  things  in  common.  Peace  and  power  shine  out  on  this 
httle  band  of  men,  but  especially  upon  Peter  and  John,  because 
they  had  been  with  Jesus  as  no  other  men  in  the  world  had 
been ;  they  had  gone  with  him  to  the  trial,  they  had  gone  with 
him  to  the  cross,  they  had  gone  to  the  grave  to  see  its  mean- 
ing, and  they  had  now  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  promise 
of  the  Father.  In  nine  weeks  men  who  before  could  only 
sneak  cowardly  away  are  now  winning  souls  by  thousands  to 
God,  because  they  preached  in  the  power  of  the  resurrection, 
in  the  power  of  the  cross,  and  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
whom  the  Christ  had  sent. 

Now  I  challenge  any  man  to  say  whether  he  need  be  in  de- 
spair and  think,  **  Oh,  it  is  all  very  well  for  some  men,  but  it 
is  not  possible  for  one  like  me."  The  devil  is  a  liar  from  the 
beginning,  and  he  is  at  it  now  with  you  if  you  are  trying  to 
sink  down  with  a  false  diffidence— which  is,  after  all,  but 
imagination  and  self-seeking— and  are  saying,  "  It  is  not  for 
me."  It  is  because  you  seek  your  own  ease  in  Zion  ;  but  those 
who  are  at  ease  in  Zion  have  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing.* 
*  Amos  vi.  I. 


FELLOIVSHIP   JVITH  JESUS  113 

Would  you  know  how  this  miracle  on  the  lame  man  was 
wrought  by  Peter  and  John?  Peter  says,  "  Why  do  you  mar- 
vel, as  though  by  our  power  or  holiness  we  have  wrought  this 
deed  ?  It  is  done  through  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Naz- 
areth." What  God  could  do  for  two  men  like  Peter  and 
John  he  must  be  able  to  do  for  you.  You  dare  not  deny  that 
the  Lord  could  take  you,  if  he  chose,  and  make  you  a  vessel 
consecrated  and  meet  for  the  Master's  use,  if  you  were  purged 
from  the  carnal  nature  which  up  to  the  night  of  Christ's  death 
had  the  ascendancy  in  the  lives  of  these  two  men,  but  who 
were  afterward  so  remarkably  used  of  God.  From  that  night 
Peter  was  never  again  afraid ;  and  although  he  once  dissem- 
bled at  Antioch,  yet  how  beautifully  he  confessed  his  folly! 
Paul  writes  to  the  Galatians  that  he  had  to  rebuke  Peter  be- 
fore them  all.  Peter,  writing  some  time  afterward,  says, 
"  Study  the  scriptures  of  our  beloved  brother  Paul."  The 
man  who  rebuked  him  face  to  face  is  the  man  to  whom  he 
gives  the  very  highest  praise,  and  bids  men  read  what  Paul  had 
written,  though  in  so  doing  they  would  read  words  of  condem- 
nation against  himself.  That  manifests  a  great  difference  be- 
tween the  old  Peter  and  the  new. 

But  what  about  the  "  son  of  thunder,"  John,  the  censorious, 
narrow,  and  bigoted?  He  is  the  man  in  whose  writings  we 
find  the  word  love  from  beginning  to  end.  Tradition  tells  us 
that  when  he  was  too  old  to  preach  he  was  carried  every  day 
in  his  chair  to  the  temple,  and  with  the  broken  voice  of  age 
whispered  over  and  over  again,  "  Little  children,  love  one  an- 
other." This  is  your  Boanerges— somewhat  changed,  is  he 
not  ? 

Now  as  to  their  teachings :  have  you  ever  studied  those  two 
epistles  of  Peter  and  the  three  epistles  of  John  to  discover  the 
root  idea  in  each?  In  the  epistles  of  Peter  you  will  discover 
that  we  have,  condensed  as  perhaps  nowhere  else  in  Scrip- 
ture, the  principles,  the  privileges,  and  the  precepts  touch- 


114  THE  LIFE   OF  PRiyiLEGE 

ing  the  whole  life  of  a  Christian  in  the  most  marvelous  man- 
ner. And  yet  Peter  was  the  man  who  knew  that  he  was  to 
die  a  martyr's  death,  and  was  looking  forward  to  speedily 
putting  off  his  old  tabernacle.  Is  it  not  remarkable  that  in  his 
writings  we  have  more  about  the  second  coming  of  Christ  than 
anywhere  else  (except  in  Thessalonians),  as  if  Peter  expected 
to  see  Christ?  Peter  knew  that  it  mattered  not  whether  he 
lived  or  died  so  far  as  his  expectation  of  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  was  concerned.  He  writes :  "  The  coming  of  the  Lord 
draws  near,  and  the  day  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night. 
Let  us  therefore  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  John,  who  had  before  him 
the  hope  of  living  to  see  his  Saviour's  return,  never  says  one 
word  about  it.  Why?  Because  it  might  be  thought  that  he 
was  only  living  in  expectation  of  that  return,  and  therefore 
that  he  was  not  a  practical  man.  He  says,  "You  must  hve 
for  the  moment ;  you  must  hve  in  love  ;  you  must  live  as  if  the 
world  were  going  on  forever ;  you  must  live  for  one  another ; 
you  must  live  to  show  practical  power  through  the  love  that 
Jesus  showed  to  you,  and  which  now  pervades  every  Holy- 
Ghost-endued  man."     He  emphasizes  the  Christian  hfe. 

If  God  could  accomplish  so  wonderful  a  change  in  two 
common  peasants  who  had  no  learning  at  all,  what  is  he  to 
do  with  the  people  of  America  and  England,  with  all  their 
great  advance  and  their  intellectual  display  ?  Never  again 
boast  of  moral  and  intellectual  superiority  unless  you  show  it, 
and  if  you  show  it  you  need  not  boast  it.  How  are  you  to  show 
it?  Having  intellectual  and  scientific  acuteness,  consecrate 
it  to  Christ  Jesus  your  Lord  by  going  with  him  through  his 
death ;  come  out  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the 
resurrection  side ;  take  the  life  that  God  gives,  the  very  life  of 
Christ,  and  henceforth  and  forever  act  as  Peter  and  John 
acted,  in  the  strength  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father. 


TRUE  DEVOTION: 

ILLUSTRATED   BY   THE   LOVE   OF  JONATHAN    FOR   DAVID. 


"  The  soul  of  Jonathan  was  knit  with  the  soul  of  David,  and  Jonathan 
loved  him  as  his  own  soul.  .  .  .  Then  Saul's  anger  was  kindled  against 
Jonathan,  and  he  said  unto  him.  Thou  son  of  the  perverse  rebellious 
woman  [or,  "  Thou  son  of  perverse  rebellion"],  do  not  I  know  that  thou 
hast  chosen  the  son  of  Jesse  to  thine  own  confusion?  .  .  .  For  as  long 
as  the  son  of  Jesse  liveth  upon  the  ground,  thou  shalt  not  be  established, 
nor  thy  kingdom." — i  Sam.  xviii.  i;   xx.  30,  31. 

"TS  Saul  also  among  the  prophets?"  Unquestionably  he 
X  is,  but  with  none  of  the  Spirit  of  God  by  whom  God 
deigns  to  speak  through  his  holy  children.  Saul  is  a  prophet 
in  that  dark  and  mysterious  manner  in  which  God  has  been 
pleased  at  times  to  speak  through  the  wicked,  though  they 
have  been  all  unconscious  of  the  meaning  of  their  own  words 
as  containing  some  of  the  greatest  truths  which  have  ever  been 
brought  home  to  the  hearts  of  men.  The  blessed  truth  here 
propounded,  and  one  which  we  should  all  know  and  accept 
for  our  own  eternal  salvation,  is  this :  "  Thou  hast  chosen  the 
son  of  Jesse  to  thine  own  confusion,  for  so  long  as  he  lives  upon 
the  ground,  thy  kingdom  can  never  be  established." 

Here  we  have  another  of  the  Scripture  paradoxes  or  appar- 
ent contradictions,  which  are  absolutely  unintelligible  to  the 
uninitiated,  but  which  present  a  truth,  clear  and  powerful,  to 
those  who  have  been  initiated  into  the  divine  mysteries.     It 

115 


ii6  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

is  indeed  a  paradox  which  the  world  will  never  understand  that 
men  should  be  said  to  act  wisely  when  they  choose  another  to 
be  their  lord,  their  king,  of  whom  they  know  but  little  at  first, 
and  in  relation  to  whom  they  must  take  a  secondary,  if  not  a 
very  lowly,  position.  They  are  nevertheless  wise,  happy,  and 
blessed  as  no  other  men  are,  thus  to  renounce  the  kingdom,  be- 
cause their  delight  is  that  the  right  to  rule  may  be  exercised  by 
another  instead  of  by  themselves.  Many  would  say  at  once  that 
Jonathan  was  an  absolute  fool  to  take  David,  the  son  of  Jesse, 
to  his  own  confusion ;  to  let  David  look  forward  to  having  the 
kingdom,  while  he,  the  son  of  the  king,  was  to  be  cast  out 
from  the  seat  of  authority  and  was  to  become  a  subject  to  the 
shepherd  boy.  Who  can  say  that  such  was  the  course  of  wis- 
dom? And  yet  they  who  have  been  initiated  into  God's  truth 
are  bold  to  declare  that  the  only  position  of  blessing,  of  peace, 
of  power,  and  of  true  prosperity  for  the  man  who,  like  Jona- 
than, appears  to  be  heir  to  an  earthly  kingdom  is  for  him  to 
give  up  his  own  position  to  another  whom  the  Lord  hath  ap- 
pointed to  be  king;  our  happiness  and  peace  and  blessing 
come  in  taking  the  Lord's  will  instead  of  our  own. 

In  the  story  of  David  and  Jonathan  we  have  a  very  simple 
picture  of  devotion,*  and  one  which  it  is  essential  to  under- 
stand in  order  to  know  the  means  of  obtaining  true  spiritual 
power.  What  we  may  call  the  manward  aspect  of  the  gos- 
pel deals  with  the  spiritual  purposes  of  God  for  his  children  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  This  enables  us  to  preach  perfection, 
though  no  human  perfection ;  the  perfect  Christ  and  not  the 
perfect  sinner.  By  the  mercy  of  God  there  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
everything  that  human  nature  can  need  or  wish  for  its  benefit ; 
and  these  wonderful  blessings  are  not  only  for  eternal  life,  but 
for  the  life  that  now  is,  so  that  a  man  enjoys  in  the  mortal 

*  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  Old  Testament,  we  are  to  remember  that 
the  picture  does  not  in  any  way  represent  the  life  beyond  the  grave,  but 
is  intended  by  God  to  instruct  man  in  regard  to  the  present  life. 


TRUE  DEVOTION  117 

flesh  just  so  much  as  he  can  take  of  Jesus  Christ  the  perfect 
Saviour. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  gospel,  namely,  the 
Godward  aspect.  The  manward  aspect  of  the  gospel  is  God 
to  man ;  the  Godward  aspect  is  man  to  God  in  the  person  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  alone  we  can  know  the 
Father  in  this  life.  How,  then,  shall  we  make  use  of  our 
Godward  privilege  except  by  our  devotion  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ?  We  can  never  be  what  God  would  have  us  be  unless 
we  accept  our  one  privilege  as  men.  Other  creatures  serve 
God  by  instinct  or  by  necessity ;  men  serve  him  by  choice, 
from  love  and  gratitude  because  of  Christ's  work.  "  We  love 
him  because  he  first  loved  us."  God  is  love,  and  if  we  do 
not  love  then  there  is  none  of  God  in  us.  Men  never  go  to 
hell  simply  because  they  commit  adultery  or  theft  or  murder. 
God's  Son  wiped  out  with  his  precious  blood  the  guilt  of  the 
sins  committed  against  the  Holy  One;  but  there  is  one  sin 
that  even  God  himself  can  never  purge  or  pardon,  and  that  is 
the  refusal  of  the  cold  heart  to  love.  If  you  die  without  love 
you  are  damned  forevermore.  I  would  gladly  abstain  from 
speaking  of  hell,  but  my  Master  never  did,  and  his  apostles 
never  did ;  there  is  an  awful  truth  in  our  Lord's  own  words : 
"  He  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  When  a  man  be- 
lieves he  gives  himself  over  absolutely  to  the  Christ,  to  be  what- 
ever the  Christ  would  have  him  be ;  so  that  you  will  not  be 
eternally  lost  because  you  stole  or  cheated  or  killed,  shameful 
and  sinful  as  these  things  are  before  God ;  but  the  one  great 
question  before  God  is.  Do  I  love  him  because  he  first  loved 
me?  And  remember  that  God  says  that  if  we  love  him  we 
must  love  our  neighbor.  Who  is  the  nearest  of  all  neighbors 
to  me?  There  is  One  who  is  nearer  to  every  child  of  God 
than  mother,  nearer  than  wife,  and  he  is  the  Christ  of  God, 
who  in  his  infinite  love  and  power  not  only  touches  the  heart, 
but  comes  into  closest  contact  with  the  soul.    You  would  be 


ii8  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

ashamed  to  say  that  you  have  no  love  for  your  mother  or  wife  ; 
then  what  shall  be  said  of  men  and  women  who  call  them- 
selves believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  yet  have  no  true 
love  to  him?  Do  you  claim  to  love  your  Saviour?  Will  you 
dare  to  have  the  searching  light  of  God's  holy  truth  applied  to 
you  by  God  the  Holy  Ghost?  Then  study  the  picture  of  true 
devotion  which  is  here  presented,  and  judge  of  the  depth  of 
your  love  as  God  shall  speak  to  your  soul. 

David,  as  every  one  knows,  is  a  type  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
At  the  point  at  which  we  take  up  the  history  there  had  recently 
been  in  the  presence  of  the  camp  of  Israel  that  noted  giant  of 
heathendom,  Gohath  of  Gath.  Israel's  camp  lay  on  one  hill- 
side, and  the  Philistines'  on  another  opposite  to  it;  between 
the  two  there  was  a  great  sweeping  valley,  into  which  strutted 
daily  Goliath  of  Gath,  preceded  by  his  armor-bearer,  and  there 
he  taunted  the  children  of  Israel  with  the  boast  that  no  one 
in  the  whole  camp  of  Israel  was  able  to  come  out  and  fight 
against  him ;  and  he  spoke  the  truth,  until  that  stripling  David 
came  from  tending  his  father's  flocks  to  bring  his  father's  greet- 
ings to  his  brothers  who  were  in  the  army.  When  David  was 
told  who  this  Gohath  of  Gath  was  he  quietly  said,  "Is  it  so? 
is  there  no  one  in  the  camp  of  the  Lord  able  to  fight  against 
him?  "  He  then  offers  himself  for  the  battle,  and  passes  down 
into  the  valley  to  meet  the  giant,  having  in  his  hand  one  of  those 
five  stones  that  were  taken  from  the  brook.  In  another  mo- 
ment, by  the  power  of  God  directing  that  stone,  the  giant  lies 
prostrate  and  at  the  mercy  of  his  enemies.  His  head  is  severed 
from  his  body  with  his  own  sword,  and  David  passes  back 
toward  the  camp  of  Israel,  not  only  a  conqueror,  but  bearing 
the  trophies  of  his  victory  in  the  presence  of  the  two  hosts, 
both  of  enemies  and  of  friends. 

This  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  victory  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  when  he,  on  our  behalf,  had  vanquished  Satan, 
the  great  Goliath  of  hell.     David  is  passing  back  toward  the 


TRUE  DEVOTION  119 

host  of  his  friends  with  the  head  of  the  giant  in  one  hand  and 
his  sword  in  the  other.  Imagine  the  impression  which  this 
sight  made  upon  the  two  hosts.  In  the  minds  of  the  ancients 
the  scene  was  reproduced  in  the  case  of  the  Lord  Jesus  by  the 
supposed  effect  in  the  camp  of  hell  after  his  conquest  of  death. 
When  the  Philistines  saw  that  their  champion  was  dead  they 
arose  and  fled ;  and  in  the  apocryphal  gospel  there  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  pictures  concerning  our  Lord's  death  that 
can  well  be  imagined  as  coming  from  an  uninspired  writer.  It 
is  there  said  that  on  the  night  of  our  Lord's  death  messengers 
hastened  from  earth  to  hell,  and  as  Beelzebub  sat  upon  his 
throne  one  after  another  entered  and  shouted,  "Tidings,  my 
lord  Beelzebub— tidings  from  earth  to  hell."  "What  tid- 
ings? "  "  That  Jesus  Christ  has  laid  his  head  upon  his  breast 
and  has  died,  having  commended  his  spirit  unto  the  Father ; 
he  is  conqueror,  and  is  now  coming  among  the  dead  to  carry 
back  his  trophies  immediately."  At  once  Beelzebub  taunt- 
ingly replies,  "What  means  this?  I  fear  not."  But  at  that 
moment  David  and  several  of  his  compeers  took  up  their  harps 
and  began  to  sing,  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ;  and  be 
ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall 
come  in."  Back  from  the  throne  of  Satan  comes  the  taunting 
cry  of  Beelzebub,  "  Who  is  this  King  of  glory?  "  Again  the 
songsters  raise  their  voices  and  shout,  "The  Lord  of  hosts, 
he  is  the  King  of  glory ;  the  Lord  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of 
glory."  Then  Satan  trembles  and  bows  his  head  in  fear,  and 
Jesus'  triumph  begins. 

Thus  the  Philistines  flee  from  their  camp  in  terror,  exactly 
as  the  hosts  of  hell  were  cowed  with  fear  when  they  heard  that 
Jesus  had  vanquished  Satan ;  but  we  need  not  mention  them 
except  to  say  that  they  represent  God's  enemies,  who  would 
tremble  and  flee  if  they  learned  that  Jesus  was  coming  with 
the  adversary's  head  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  of  justice  in 
the  other.     It  is  an  awful  thing  to  be  impelled  to  flee  from 


120  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

David's  greater  Son  when  he  comes  as  conqueror  and  judge, 
and  to  be  among  those  who  call  upon  the  rocks  and  the  hills 
to  cover  them  and  hide  them  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb, 
and  from  him  who  shall  sit  upon  the  throne.  God  help  you 
if  you  are  among  those  enemies. 

But  now  let  us  turn  from  the  enemy  to  consider  David  pass- 
ing from  the  valley  back  to  the  camp  of  Israel  on  the  brow  of 
the  hill.  As  he  returns  he  sees  the  great  concourse  of  people 
flocking  from  the  upland,  rushing  hastily  down  into  the  val- 
ley. They  too  have  seen  the  fall  of  their  foe,  they  have  seen 
the  Phihstines  fleeing  in  despair,  and  they  are  hurrying  down 
—what  for?  To  secure  what  spoils  they  can  from  the  camp  of 
the  enemy.  As  they  pass  the  son  of  Jesse,  David,  our  Jesus, 
what  say  they?  Is  there  any  word  of  gratitude  for  his  love  in 
taking  his  Hfe  in  his  hand  for  their  sakes?  Not  one  word  of 
gratitude  comes  from  the  whole  camp  of  Israel  to  that  blessed 
victor  who  has  gained  salvation  on  their  behalf.  They  only 
hurry  forward  to  seize  upon  the  spoils,  to  secure  money, 
trophies,  armor,  brass,  all  things  connected  with  the  body; 
but  not  a  thought  for  the  savior  of  their  lives.  Think  of  the 
multitudes  who  call  themselves  Israel,  God's  chosen  people, 
who  sit  in  the  camp  of  Israel  and  profess  to  bear  armor  as  sol- 
diers of  the  Lord,  who  only  say,  "  There  goes  the  Son  of  Jesse 
taking  his  life  in  his  hand  for  our  sakes.  Watch  him,  the 
wonderful  Victor,  go  to  the  cross ;  look  at  him— splendid  pic- 
ture! "  A  sentimental  fool  says,  "  I  love  to  see  a  beautiful  pic- 
ture by  Rubens  or  one  of  the  old  masters  depicting  the  agony 
of  Christ  upon  the  cross  of  Calvary ;  I  love  to  see  the  blood- 
drops  flow ;  I  love  to  look  at  the  crown  of  thorns,  and  to  see 
the  anguish  of  his  face."  Do  you  ?  Do  you?  You  will  have 
to  answer  for  every  throb  of  pleasure  which  you  experience 
in  seeing  the  picture  of  your  dying  Saviour  covered  with  pain 
and  shame  and  spittle  and  blood,  while  yet  you  pass  him  by 
without  one  thought  of  love,  without  one  emotion  of  real  de- 


TRUE  DEVOTION  121 

votion  to  your  Redeemer.  Brethren,  it  is  an  awful  thing  to 
watch  the  Son  of  God  go  down  into  the  valley  of  humiliation 
and  gain  a  victory  on  our  behalf,  and  then  to  rush  by  him  after 
the  spoils  of  earth  from  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  There  are 
multitudes  who  are  eager  enough  to  get  the  spoils  of  Christ's 
victory,  not  counting  that  as  earthly  ambition,  but  who  never 
love  and  serve  the  Victor.  Jesus  never  asks  you  simply  to  take 
the  benefits  of  his  salvation ;  he  only  asks  you  whether  you 
will  love  him,  whether  you  will  give  yourself  to  him.  What 
a  cowardly  religion  it  is,  to  be  afraid  to  oppose  the  foe  until 
Christ  has  vanquished  him,  and  then  to  rush  over  the  corpse 
and  kick  it  and  take  all  the  good  results  that  we  can  from  what 
Jesus  has  done,  but  never  to  give  a  thought  to  him  who  gained 
the  victory  at  the  cost  of  his  life  ! 

But  there  are  others  in  this  picture  besides  the  careless  and 
thoughtless  aspirants  after  blessing  to  themselves ;  there  is  the 
man  who  is  seated  at  his  tent  door,  Saul,  the  son  of  Kish. 
As  David  goes  to  meet  the  foe  Saul  turns  to  Abner,  the  cap- 
tain of  the  host,  and  says,  "Abner,  whose  son  is  this  youth?  " 
Ancient  writers  have  long  taken  Saul  to  be  a  type  of  the  learned 
Pharisee  of  the  days  of  Christ ;  but  he  seems  to  me  to  be  not 
only  a  picture  of  the  Pharisee,  proud  of  his  self-righteousness, 
proud  of  his  works,  proud  of  his  stature,  and  proud  of  his 
speech,  as  in  the  days  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  Saul,  the  son  of 
Kish,  sitting  in  his  tent  door,  exactly  represents  any  man  who 
imagines  that  he  can  hold  the  fort  by  his  own  prowess  and 
strength,  in  his  own  armor,  and  to  his  own  glory,  and  who  for- 
gets to  submit  to  the  Lord  of  hosts  and  to  be  obedient  to  his 
will.  Saul  is  the  man  who  had  despised  the  will  of  God  when 
he  was  commanded  to  slay  the  Amalekites ;  he  had  chosen  the 
best  of  the  spoils  for  himself  and  for  his  people,  and  had 
spared  Agag,  the  king  of  Amalek  ;  so  that  though  once  among 
the  prophets  and  having  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  upon  him,  he 
has  now  for  some  time  been  troubled  with  an  evil  spirit  from 


122  THE  LIFE   OF  PRIVILEGE 

God,  which  had  brought  him  into  all  kinds  of  distress  and 
trouble.  This  man  sits  in  his  tent  door  as  David,  our  Jesus, 
goes  out  to  fight  on  his  behalf,  and  he  puts  the  proud  and 
haughty  question,  "  Abner,  whose  son  is  this  youth?  "  In  the 
days  of  our  Lord  on  earth  the  Pharisees  apparently  asked  the 
same  question,  for  Jesus  himself  says,  "What  think  ye  of 
Christ?  whose  son  is  he?  "  And  they  refused  to  answer  cor- 
rectly, because  they  knew  that  if  they  told  the  truth  they 
would  have  to  confess  their  base  ingratitude  and  their  pride. 
For  a  considerable  time  David  had  actually  sat  in  Saul's 
home  playing  away  the  evil  spirit  from  God  by  his  lovely 
music,  and  yet  a  few  days  later  Saul  has  apparently  forgotten 
the  benefits  that  he  has  received  from  David.  He  has  offered 
his  armor  when  the  youth  would  go  against  the  giant ;  he  is 
willing  to  cover  him  with  a  coat  of  mail  such  as  he  himself  is 
proud  of,  but  he  has  no  care  for  him  who  has  brought  peace 
to  his  soul  when  the  evil  spirit  from  God  was  upon  him ;  and 
now  Saul  has  the  impudence  to  inquire,  "Whose  son  is  this 
youth?  "  This,  my  brethren,  is  the  question  to-day  from  all 
the  brazen-armored  men  who  are  trying  to  captivate  the  young 
people  and  to  make  them  bow  to  them  as  kings ;  they  are  in- 
quiring as  warriors  of  wisdom  and  pride  in  this  world,  "  Whose 
son  is  Jesus?  "  It  is  a  question  of  base  ingratitude,  when  they 
have  received  such  wonderful  benefits  at  his  hand.  Are  you 
clothed  in  the  pride  of  your  heart  with  brazen  armor  of  men's 
manufacture,  ever  ready  to  fight  if  it  will  bring  you  glory,  but 
full  of  fear  when  you  see  the  giant  of  hell?  I  never  yet  knew 
a  brazen  Saul  who  did  not  desire  to  flee  from  the  devil  when 
the  fear  of  death  was  upon  him.  You  who  have  received  such 
boundless  mercies  from  Jesus,  you  on  whom  he  has  bestowed 
such  love,  is  it  not  the  height  of  baseness  and  ingratitude  for 
you  to  sit  calmly  in  your  homes  with  the  Bible  in  your  hand 
and  say,  "I  wonder  w^hose  son  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is. 
Come,  let  us  have  an  argument."     Is  that  becoming  in  one 


TRUE  DEVOTION  123 

who  has  had  an  evil  spirit  charmed  away  by  the  music  of  his 
love  even  before  he  slew  your  old  enemy  and  vanquished  death 
for  you?  But  you  will  add  still  more  to  your  baseness  if  you 
decHne  to  bow  before  this  Jesus  and  own  him  as  Lord  of  all. 
In  the  picture  before  us,  besides  the  careless  Israel  who  want 
to  be  saved,  but  never  care  a  straw  for  the  Saviour,  there  are 
three  classes  of  men  represented.  Saul  is  the  type  of  the  self- 
righteous  man  who  sits  calmly  before  God  and  man  and  flat- 
ters himself  that  all  is  well,  because  he  is  clothed  in  his  own 
armor  and  has  never  done  wrong  in  his  own  eyes.  What  is 
the  end  of  such  a  man?  Toward  the  close  of  his  life  Saul  has 
to  fight  these  Philistines  again,  and  because  of  fear  he  leaves 
his  own  camp  and  goes  to  consult  the  witch  of  Endor,  one 
of  the  very  people  whom  he  had  proudly  ordered  to  be  killed 
as  impostors.  Have  you  never  observed  that  a  self-righteous 
man  who  flatters  himself  that  he  is  capable  of  meeting  every 
difficulty  in  this  world  always  swings  from  the  extreme  of  pride 
to  the  extreme  of  terror  when  he  comes  face  to  face  with 
death?  Thus  on  the  night  before  his  death  Saul  is  grovel- 
ing on  the  ground  in  a  witch's  cave,  and  there  rises  before  his 
vision  Samuel,  who  had  been  his  bane,  but  would  have  been 
his  blessing,  and  Samuel  tells  him  from  God  that  he  must  die 
the  next  day.  Saul's  extremity  of  anguish  is  so  great  that  he 
cannot  be  persuaded  to  take  a  mouthful  to  eat.  God  pity  the 
man  who  knows  the  day  before  his  death  any  horror  such  as 
Saul,  the  king  of  Israel,  knew.  What  is  the  end  of  such  a 
man?  On  the  hill  Gilboa,  where  the  battle  is  fought,  Saul  has 
fallen  wounded ;  and  as  he  lies  there  a  stranger  comes  up.  (I 
pray  God,  whatever  your  future  in  eternity  may  be,  that  he  will 
save  you  from  such  a  death  as  that  of  King  Saul.)  A  stranger 
stands  before  Saul,  and  he,  in  the  extremity  of  his  anguish,  says, 
"  Slay  me :  for  anguish  is  come  upon  me,  because  my  life  is  yet 
whole  in  me."  Who  is  this  stranger?  "  I  am  an  Amalekite." 
"  What,  an  Amalekite!    I  ought  to  have  killed  the  Amalekites, 


124  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

and  now  an  Amalekite  must  kill  me."  *  If  you  do  not  slay  the 
enemies  that  God  has  commanded  you  to  slay  they  will  rise  up 
before  you  in  your  dying  hour  and  will  cause  you  anguish  by 
bringing  up  your  shame  before  you.  For  God's  sake  get  rid 
of  your  armor  of  brass  and  bow  down  upon  your  face  before 
your  David,  saying,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget 
not  all  his  benefits." 

If  Saul  is  the  type  of  the  self-righteous  man,  what  think  you 
of  Abner,  the  captain  of  the  host  ?  When  Saul  says,  "  Abner, 
whose  son  is  this  youth?  "  Abner  puts  on  the  cynical  sneer  of 
the  agnostic  and  says,  "As  thy  soul  liveth,  O  king,  I  cannot 
tell."  No,  your  agnostic  never  can  tell;  he  is  always  claim- 
ing to  be  the  cleverest  man  in  the  camp,  and  as  leader  of  the 
king's  host  it  is  his  duty  to  know  who  the  youth  is  who  has 
wrought  this  wonderful  victory.  And  yet  Abner  flatters  him- 
self that  it  is  sufficient  for  him,  the  leader  of  the  host,  to  say, 
"As  thy  soul  liveth,  I  cannot  tell."  The  agnostic  is  always 
ready  to  talk  about  the  soul,  quite  willing  to  talk  about  God, 
and  claims  superior  wisdom ;  but  he  thinks  it  will  suffice,  when 
a  puzzling  question  is  put,  to  reply,  "  Ah,  my  young  friend, 
that  is  one  of  those  things  that  no  one  knows."  He  brings 
you  to  the  Bible  and  says  that  we  cannot  tell  anything  about 
this  David.  "  I  would  advise  you  to  take  the  attitude  of  a 
philosopher,"  he  says  to  the  young  man  or  the  young  woman 
who  questions  him ;  he  tells  them  that  it  is  very  wonderful  to 
doubt,  according  to  the  philosophical  idea  of  ignorance,  and 
that  to  affect  ignorance  is  to  show  superior  knowledge.  He 
thinks  that  such  an  attitude  is  very  grand.  But  now  look  for 
a  moment  at  Abner's  end,  an  illustration  of  the  end  of  every 
agnostic.  Abner  is  one  who  is  always  trying  to  hedge ;  there- 
fore when  Saul  is  dead  Abner  tries  Ishbosheth ;  when  he  does 

*  It  is  not  clear  that  the  Amalekite  really  slew  Saul,  although  he 
boasted  that  he  had  done  so,  in  hope  of  a  reward  from  David.  (See 
I  Sam.  xxxi.  3-5  and  2  Sam.  i.  6-10.) — D.  L.  P. 


TRUE  DEVOTION  125 

not  suit  he  tunis  to  David  to  see  if  he  cannot  claim  some  bene- 
fits from  him.  What  is  his  end?  Joab,  the  son  of  Zeruiah, 
takes  his  sword  and  runs  him  through  Hke  a  traitor.  Then,  as 
Abner  Hes  there  dead,  King  David  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
bier,  and  notwithstanding  his  wish  to  speak  well  of  the  man, 
he  cannot  say  more  than  this :  "  Died  Abner  as  a  fool  dieth?  " 
Yes,  always  dies  the  agnostic  as  a  fool  dieth.  God  save  us 
from  the  fate  of  the  agnostic. 

Now  look  at  David.  As  he  came  back  into  the  camp  of 
Israel  the  people  neglected  him,  Saul  forgot  him,  Abner  ignored 
him,  all  neglected  him  but  one  man.  As  David  arose  from 
speaking  with  Saul,  "  the  soul  of  Jonathan  was  knit  with  the 
soul  of  David,  and  Jonathan  loved  him  as  his  own  soul."  It 
was  not  the  victory  only  that  charmed  him,  glorious  as  that 
was ;  it  was  simply  that  the  young  man  David,  so  kingly,  so 
humble,  so  beautiful,  took  right  hold  of  the  soul  of  Jonathan, 
and  Jonathan  gave  out  all  his  heart  to  him.  Saul  had  loved 
David  once ;  *  the  Pharisees  may  have  loved  Jesus  for  a  mo- 
ment; you  may  have  been  excited  by  some  feeling  to  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  for  a  little  while,  but  will  you  test  that  love 
and  see  whether  it  is  like  Saul's  or  like  Jonathan's  ? 

What  are  the  proofs  of  Jonathan's  love?  First  (i  Sam. 
xviii.  3),  "Jonathan  made  a  covenant  with  David,  because  he 
loved  him  as  his  own  soul."  Have  you  ever  gone  aside  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  and  put  your  hand  into  the  conqueror's  hand 
and  said,  "  My  Lord,  thou  beloved  Son  of  Jesse,  thou  mighty 
Counselor,  I  love  thee,  and  desire  to  make  a  covenant  with 
thee"?  The  gospel  of  our  salvation  calls  for  personal  dealing 
with  Jesus,  and  if  you  do  not  begin  by  making  a  covenant  with 
him  who  conquered  all  for  you,  your  religion  is  of  httle  value. 
We  are  separated  from  God  by  sin,  and  Christ  comes  to  bind 
our  hearts  back  to  God,  and  therefore  we  should  begin  by 
making  a  covenant  of  love  with  him. 

*  I  Sam.  xvj.  21. 


126  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

Then,  because  he  loved  him,  ''Jonathan  stripped  himself  of 
the  robe  that  was  upon  him,  and  gave  it  to  David,  and  his  gar- 
ments, even  to  his  sword,  and  to  his  bow,  and  to  his  girdle." 
You  may  have  made  your  covenant  of  consecration,  but  have 
you  stripped  yourself  and  given  to  Jesus  the  filthy  rags  of  your 
own  righteousness?  He  will  take  them.  There  is  a  most  re- 
markable expression  here  ;  we  read,  "  even  to  his  sword."  Did 
you  ever  see  the  force  of  that?  We  are  told  (i  Sam.  xiii.  22) 
that,  owing  to  the  oppression  of  the  Philistines,  there  were 
only  two  swords  in  all  Israel ;  one  was  Saul's  and  one  was  Jona- 
than's. David  has  now  come  back  with  the  sword  of  Goliath 
in  his  hands;  therefore  he  has  another  sword,  and  a  mighty 
sword  at  that.  But  Jonathan  loves  David  so  intensely  that  he 
cares  not  that  there  are  no  other  swords  in  the  camp  of  Israel, 
and  that  David  already  has  one,  but  he  says,  "  O  David,  take 
all,  take  all ;  take  my  sword ;  you  have  one,  but  never  mind ; 
take  another;  take  all."  True  love  stops  not  to  think  how 
much  must  be  given  and  what  can  be  kept ;  it  gives  all.  Give 
up  your  sword,  your  fighting  power ;  let  Jesus  take  it ;  he  does 
not  need  it,  perhaps,  but  he  loves  to  receive  it  because  it  is  a 
token  of  your  love  to  him.  What  is  your  sword?  Is  it  your 
money?  Will  you  give  it  up  to  him?  Your  voice?  Give  it 
up.  Do  not  begin  to  mince  matters.  You  must  strip  your- 
self and  give  all  your  possessions  and  powers  to  him. 

But  that  is  not  all.  We  read  (i  Sam.  xix.  2)  that  "Jona- 
than, Saul's  son,  delighted  much  in  David."  He  told  David 
everything  that  was  plotted  against  him;  he  had  quiet  talks 
with  him  over  the  wickedness  of  the  home  hfe,  because  he  de- 
Hghted  in  David.  Quiet  talks  with  Jesus  about  his  enemies 
will  be  very  helpful  to  your  soul  and  will  bring  you  nearer  him. 

But  still  further  we  read  (i  Sam.  xx.  4),  "Then  said  Jona- 
than unto  David,  Whatsoever  thy  soul  desireth,  I  will  even  do 
it  for  thee."  "Oh,"  you  say,  "that  is  going  one  step  too 
far.     I  made  a  covenant  with  Him  long  ago.     I  have  even 


TRUE  DEVOTION  127 

stripped  myself  of  all  my  most  cherished  powers  and  posses- 
sions ;  but  if  I  say  that  I  will  do  whatever  He  wants,  there  is 
no  saying  to  what  I  shall  commit  myself ;  I  might  be  made  a 
fool  of  before  friends  or  employers,  so  that  even  my  only  means 
of  obtaining  a  living  for  my  wife  and  children  may  be  taken 
away."  But  Love  puts  his  hand  up  to  Him  who  is  to  be  the 
king  and  trustingly  and  devotedly  says,  "  Whatsoever  thy  soul 
desireth,  I  will  even  do  it  for  thee."  Do  you  meet  this  test 
of  your  love? 

But  again,  we  are  told  (i  Sam.  xx.  17)  that  "Jonathan 
caused  David  to  swear  again,  because  he  loved  him :  for  he 
loved  him  as  he  loved  his  own  soul."  The  Holy  Ghost  seems 
to  labor  to  express  this  fact  of  the  depth  of  his  love  in  a  way 
that  has  no  parallel  elsewhere  in  the  Bible.  Now  Jonathan 
makes  David  swear  to  him  ;  he  calmly  says  to  David,  "  I  know 
that  thou  art  to  be  the  king  in  my  stead  ;  I  know  that  the  whole 
authority  is  to  be  thine,  and  that  my  family  may  be  left  at  thy 
disposal ;  but,  David,  when  I  am  gone  and  my  children  are 
left  to  thy  mercy,  thou  wilt  be  gracious  to  my  family,  wilt 
thou  not  ?  "  We  poor  wretched  fools  of  men  are  always 
planning  to  look  after  our  families  and  fancying  that  we 
must  make  provision  for  wife  and  children  when  the  Lord 
takes  us  away.  What  a  beautiful  rebuke  Jonathan  gives  us 
when  he  says,  "You  will  be  here  long  after  I  am  gone;  take 
my  family  and  care  for  them  for  me  "!  So  David  and  Jona- 
than sware  to  each  other,  because  each  loved  the  other  as  his 
own  soul.  When  shall  we  learn  what  a  blessed  thing  it  is  to 
leave  everything  to  King  Jesus,  for  he  will  manage  the  family 
better  than  we  could?  The  anxious  mother  says,  "  O  my  dar- 
lings, what  will  become  of  them?  "  Make  David  swear.  He 
will  do  it  when  he  sees  that  you  love  him  as  you  love  your 
own  soul. 

Once  more  (i  Sam.  xx.  25-34),  King  Saul  is  described  as  sit- 
ting at  his  feast ;  David  is  absent,  and  Jonathan  is  called  upon 


128  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

to  answer  for  him.  When  once  a  man  becomes  identified  with 
the  Son  of  David  all  look  at  him  and  say,  "  There  is  the  fel- 
low who  loves  Jesus ;  let  him  answer.  Come,  Jonathan,  what 
have  you  to  say?  "  Jonathan  always  has  much  to  say,  even 
though  King  Saul,  his  father,  hurls  a  javehn  at  his  head  and 
says,  "  Thou  son  of  the  perverse  rebelHon,  do  not  I  know  that 
thou  hast  chosen  the  son  of  Jesse  to  thine  own  confusion?  " 
"  Quite  true,  father ;  I  never  expected  to  be  king  since  David 
came ;  he  is  to  be  king,  but  that  does  not  trouble  me."  Then 
comes  the  javehn—"  You  fool,  to  give  up  the  kingdom  to  the 
son  of  Jesse!"  But,  my  brother,  that  is  just  what  we  were 
saved  to  do.     We  are  saved  that  Jesus  may  be  King. 

Now  notice  the  last  interview  between  Jonathan  and  David 
(i  Sam.  xxiii.  i6,  17) :  "Jonathan,  Saul's  son,  arose,  and  went 
to  David  into  the  wood,  and  strengthened  his  hand  in  God. 
And  he  said  unto  him.  Fear  not :  for  the  hand  of  Saul  my 
father  shall  not  find  thee ;  and  thou  shalt  be  king  over  Israel, 
and  I  shall  be  next  unto  thee ;  and  that  also  Saul  my  father 
knoweth."  That  is  the  most  beautiful  act  of  self-abnegation 
that  could  be  performed  by  mortal  man.  Jonathan  puts  the 
kingdom  directly  into  David's  hands  and  says,  "  I  shall  be 
next  unto  thee."  It  may  be  said  that  Jonathan  never  really 
sat  next  to  David  on  the  throne ;  but  whatever  was  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  expectation,  it  is  certainly  true  in  our  case,  if  we 
give  up  the  first  place  to  the  Son  of  David,  that  we  shall  have 
blessing  even  in  this  life,  and  in  the  world  to  come  we  shall 
enjoy  our  position  of  power  eternally. 

Come  now  to  the  death-scene  of  Jonathan.  Now  he  is  next 
to  King  David,  when  at  the  head  of  that  solemn  funeral  pro- 
cession, though  the  bodies  have  not  yet  been  recovered  from 
the  Philistines'  place  of  burial,  there  stands  one  who  is  now 
truly  called  King  David.  As  he  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
procession  there  breaks  from  his  heart  the  touching  ciy,  "  I  am 
distressed  for  thee,  my  brother  Jonathan:  very  pleasant  hast 


TRUE  DEMOTION  129 

thou  been  unto  me :  thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful,  passing  the 
love  of  women."  That  is  the  burial  sermon,  that  is  the  funeral 
oration  which  King  David  utters  over  his  friend,  who  had 
given  up  the  throne  out  of  love  to  his  savior,  and  had  gladly- 
let  him  have  his  rights  because  God  had  anointed  him.  My 
bretliren,  God  has  anointed  Jesus  to  be  King ;  you  and  I  are 
dying  men;  tell  me,  could  there  be  in  this  world  a  greater 
reward  for  devotion  than  this  ?  If  I  am  to  die  before  Thou 
comest,  O  blessed  King,  O  glorious  Lord,  O  mighty  David, 
— thou  hast  thy  rights  and  thou  wilt  be  universally  acknowledged 
one  day— come  as  King  of  all,  and  stand,  I  pray  thee,  at 
my  bier's  head  and  say,  "  I  am  distressed  for  thee,  my  be- 
loved brother :  thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful."  That  would  be 
a  ten  milHon  times  greater  reward  than  all  the  wealth,  all  the 
power,  all  the  pleasures  that  earth  can  give.  Men  and  breth- 
ren, the  King  died  for  you,  he  lives  with  God  eternally,  he  will 
one  day  come  to  take  his  throne.  I  beseech  you,  give  him 
his  rights  now  out  of  love  and  gratitude,  so  that  if  you  die 
before  he  appears,  he  who  wept  at  Lazarus's  grave  may  stand 
by  your  bier's  head  and  say,  "  I  am  distressed  for  thee,  my 
brother  Jonathan  :  very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  me :  thy 
love  to  me — not  to  my  kingdom,  not  to  my  home,  not  to  my 
wealth — thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful."  Bless  the  women  who 
are  able  to  love  so  that  David,  in  speaking  of  the  true  love  of 
unselfish  devotion,  must  compare  it  to  woman's  love — but  it 
surpasses  that,  and  is  very  wonderful.  Christ's  own  name  was 
Wonderful.  He  has  given  only  two  wonderfuls  in  the  world 
—himself  and  the  love  of  his  loving  one.  O  brethren,  be 
wonderful  along  with  Christ,  and  he  will  say  to  you,  as  I  trust 
he  will  say  to  me,  "  Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful,  passing 
the  love  of  women." 


SEPARATION   AND   SATISFACTION: 


LESSONS    FROM    THE   LIFE   OF    RUTH 


'  *  Then  Naomi  her  mother-in-law  said  unto  her,  My  daughter,  shall  I 
not  seek  rest  for  thee,  that  it  maybe  well  with  thee?  .  .  .  Then  said  she, 
Sit  still,  my  daughter,  until  thou  know  how  the  matter  will  fall :  for  the 
man  will  not  be  in  rest,  until  he  have  finished  the  thing  this  day.  ...  So 
Boaz  took  Ruth,  and  she  was  his  wife." — Ruth  hi.  i,  i8;  iv.  13. 

A  CERTAIN  man,  entitled  Elimelech,  a  native  of  Bethle- 
hem, Judah,  in  the  time  of  famine  leaves  his  own  paternal 
residence,  where  he  ought  to  have  remained  with  God,  and 
passes  down  into  the  dangerous  country  of  Moab,  where  he  tar- 
ries with  his  wife  and  two  sons.  The  sons  become  allied  to  two 
women  of  Moab,  Ruth  and  Orpah.  The  father,  Elimelech, 
and  his  two  sons,  Mahlon  and  Chilion,  die  there,  and  at  last 
Naomi  awakes  to  the  fact  that  she  is  not  blessed  among  the 
outcast  people  of  Moab,  but  that  she  should  be  back  in  the 
house  of  her  fathers.  One  of  her  daughters-in-law  goes  with 
her,  but  the  other  remains  behind.  Naomi  arrives  in  Bethle- 
hem, the  blessed  city  of  Judah,  and  there  becomes  conscious 
of  the  fact  that  her  husband's  kinsman,  Boaz,  is  able  to  make 
provision  for  her  and  for  her  daughter-in-law.  It  is  through 
the  guidance  of  Naomi  that  Ruth  at  last  is  united  in  wedlock 
to  this  Boaz,  a  man  of  great  wealth,  the  kinsman  of  Elimelech. 
Every  name  in  this  history  is  full  of  deep  spiritual  signifi- 

130 


SEPARATION  AND  SATISFACTION  131 

cance,  and  it  is  impossible  for  any  student  of  God's  holy  Word 
to  study  this  remarkable  story  carefully  without  seeing  that  we 
may  learn  from  them  some  mighty  spiritual  truths.  Elimelech 
("  my  God  is  King  "),  whose  name  recognizes  God  as  his  ruler, 
and  his  wife,  Naomi  (the  "  blessed  "  or  "  agreeable  "),  fail  to 
realize  the  power  of  God  to  provide  for  his  own  in  the  time  of 
difficulty  and  danger ;  so  that  they  leave  Bethlehem  (the  "house 
of  bread  "),  where  all  God's  people  should  be  dwelling,  and  go 
forth,  as  so  many  parents  do  when  they  are  wishing  to  provide 
for  their  families,  into  Moab— the  world — in  the  hope  that  by 
human  might  and  human  wisdom  they  may  be  able  to  provide 
for  their  loved  ones,  since  God,  as  they  think,  is  either  unwill- 
ing or  unable  to  do  it.  Having  arrived  among  the  worldly 
children  of  Moab,  who  are  the  descendants  of  Lot  and  his 
daughters  to  their  own  shame,  this  Hebrew  family  tarries  there 
for  ten  years,  enjoying  nothing  whatever  of  spiritual  comfort 
or  progress.  The  father,  Elimelech,  dies,  having  to  bear  the 
consequences  of  having  dishonored  his  King  by  placing  himself 
in  a  worldly  position.  Mahlon  ("weakness"  or  "infirmity") 
and  Chilion  (the  "perfect"  or  "beautiful")  both  die  because 
they  have  thus  placed  themselves  in  contact  with  the  world, 
where  the  child  of  God  has  no  proper  place. 

But  after  this,  Naomi  (the  "pleasant "  and  "blessed  "),  who 
has  thus  become  Mara  ("  bitter  "),  awakes  to  the  fact  that  there 
ought  to  be  a  better  life,  that  there  can  be,  and  seems  to  say  that 
there  shall  be  a  better  life  for  her,  the  child  of  God,  than  tar- 
rying in  the  midst  of  worldly  connections.  In  the  present  day 
conferences  are  held  in  all  parts  of  the  world  in  order  that  the 
church,  which  has  made  the  mistake  of  Naomi,  may  be  awak- 
ened to  the  conviction  that  impious  connections  are  not  a 
blessing,  that  impious  sojournings  bring  nothing  but  pain,  and 
therefore  years  pass  by  without  fruit.  No  children  are  begot- 
ten of  those  marriages  with  the  daughters  of  Moab.  The 
children  of  God  are  learning  to-day  as  never  before  that  to  be 


132  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

allied  with  the  people  of  the  world,  who  are  under  the  curse 
of  God,  can  bring  no  blessing ;  but  they  are  beginning  to 
realize  that  God  can  take  his  children  out  of  the  world,  if  they 
have  but  faith  to  resign  the  world  and  to  go  back  in  trust  to 
Hve  among  the  people  of  the  Lord.  Thus  Naomi,  waking  up 
to  the  conviction  that  she  might  have  better  things  if  she 
should  go  back  to  Bethlehem,  now,  under  an  impulse  from 
God,  says  to  her  daughters-in-law,  "  The  Lord  has  bidden  me 
to  go  back  to  my  home  among  the  chosen  people  of  the  Lord, 
and  to  have  no  further  contact  with  the  world ;  and  I  must 
go."  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  she  makes  no  appeal  to  those 
women  to  go  with  her ;  she  simply  leaves  them  to  decide  for 
themselves.  When  God's  call  comes  to  you,  you  cannot  force 
your  daughters  or  your  associates  to  leave  the  world  at  once 
and  to  give  up  all  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord,  but  it  is  your  place, 
cost  what  it  may,  to  obey  the  call  of  the  Lord  to  his  church, 
and  to  come  out  from  among  the  world  and  be  separate  from 
them— not  come  out  from  your  churches,  not  come  out  from 
God's  people  and  claim  to  be  peculiarly  separate  and  more 
holy  than  others  who  belong  to  the  Lord,  not  set  yourselves 
up  as  a  separate  church  until  at  last  all  the  unity  in  the  body 
of  Christ  is  lost.  Theodore  Monod  once  said  that  he  asked 
one  man  the  question,  "Are  there  many  Christians  in  this 
city?  "  The  man  answered,  **  Well,  sir,  there  is  Brother  Jones 
and  myself,  but  I  am  not  quite  sure  about  Brother  Jones." 
We  want  none  of  that  sort  of  separation,  that  dignified  isola- 
tion, which  says,  "  I  am  separate ;  therefore  I  am  holier  than 
thou."  Those  words  bring  God's  supreme  curse  upon  any 
who  dare  to  utter  them.  Such  an  attitude  is  not  of  the  Lord. 
We  must  have  love,  we  must  have  unity,  we  must  have  bro- 
therly compassion  and  sympathy ;  the  Naomis  of  the  Lord  are 
only  called  to  go  OMifrom  the  world— irom  Moab,  the  places 
of  spiritual  peril  where  there  is  no  true  Hght  from  the  Lord — 
and  to  go  back  among  God's  own  people  and  cast  their  lot 


SEPARATION  AND  SATISFACTION  i33 

with  them,  though  at  the  cost  of  pain  to  themselves  and  their 
loved  ones. 

Naomi,  having  ascended  the  hill  with  Ruth  and  Orpah, 
looks  out  over  the  wild  waste  that  stretches  for  a  hundred  miles 
toward  Bethlehem ;  she  turns  her  back  on  the  valley  of  Moab, 
so  pleasant  to  the  eye,  and  says,  "  I  leave  you,  my  daughters ; 
the  Lord  hath  called  me,  I  cannot  tarry."  If  mothers  will 
take  that  step  God  will  bless  them  and  their  daughters  more 
than  they  know.  Now  there  comes  the  winnowing  of  the 
wheat  from  the  chaff,  the  sifting  of  the  heart.  We  are  told  that 
Orpah  (whose  name  means  "  nakedness  ")  looked  back  toward 
the  fields  of  Moab,  and  although  she  kissed  her  mother-in-law 
and  wept,  she  went  back  "  unto  her  people,  and  unto  her  gods." 
We  hear  no  more  of  the  naked  one ;  she  has  gone  back  to  her 
nakedness.  She  has  chosen  to  return  to  her  father-in-law's 
money  and  property,  her  brother-in-law's  position  and  home ; 
she  is  an  heiress,  perhaps.  Orpah  is  rich  in  the  world,  but  she 
is  poor  in  soul ;  and  on  the  night  of  her  death  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  will  say  to  such  a  one,  now  as  then,  "Thou  fool,  this 
night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee  ;  then  whose  shall  these 
things  be  which  thou  hast  been  gathering  together?  "  Beloved 
sisters  and  brethren,  I  beseech  you,  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
and  say  not,  like  Orpah,  "  I  must  weep  and  go  back,  because 
I  love  the  world  and  cling  to  it  still;"  but,  like  Ruth,  "En- 
treat me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to  return  from  following  after 
thee :  for  where  thou  goest,  I  will  go ;  where  thou  lodgest,  I 
will  lodge ;  where  thou  diest,  I  will  die :  thy  people  shall  be 
my  people,  and  thy  God  shall  be  my  God :  God  do  so  to  me, 
and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me." 

The  Lord  calls  us  to  the  holy  life ;  he  bids  us  come  to  his 
own  "  house  of  bread  "  in  the  land  of  liberty,  of  blessing,  and 
of  joy.  Shall  there  not  be  a  compact  between  God's  children, 
that,  though  physically  we  may  be  separated,  yet  spiritually 
from  this  day  forth  till  we  meet  at  God's  right  hand  we  shall 


134  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

be  one  in  the  blessed  privilege  of  trusting  ourselves  wholly  to 
the  Lord?  Ruth  was  only  a  heathen  outcast  by  origin,  one 
who  must  journey  like  a  poor  beggar  a  hundred  miles  across  a 
dreary  waste  inhabited  by  thieving  Bedouins ;  and  yet  we  never 
hear  a  word  of  fear  or  complaint.  Those  two  unprotected 
women  traveled  through  a  country  infested  by  banditti  and 
robbers,  and  there  is  never  a  word  about  fear  or  peril;  all 
we  read  is :  "  And  they  came  to  Bethlehem  in  the  beginning 
of  barley  harvest."  Blessed  be  God,  the  "  house  of  bread  " 
welcomes  home  at  harvest-time  the  woman  who  has  learned 
her  lesson  and  the  heathen-born  outcast ;  they  may  come  into 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  there  he  will  make  provision  for 
all  their  wants. 

The  first  step  toward  such  a  blessing  is  to  make  a  decision. 
How  many  years  have  you  been  allied  to  the  church  of  God 
as  a  church-member,  and  yet  have  not  had  a  spiritual  trial? 
How  many  years  have  you  been  linked  on  to  the  ministry,  like 
Naomi,  the  pleasant  one,  a  beautiful  creature,  one  who  loved 
the  Lord,  but,  like  her,  without  having  any  fruit,  any  results 
to  show  for  your  Christianity  and  service,  because  you  have 
been  cleaving  to  Moab?  You  should  have  been  in  Bethle- 
hem, but  you  loved  the  world  or  were  afraid  of  the  journey. 
"  Elimelech  was  my  predecessor,"  says  the  minister ;  "  he  was 
a  man  whom  every  one  used  to  point  out  as  one  whose  King 
was  God ;  he  was  a  lovely  minister,  but  he  brought  the  congre- 
gation down  until  they  were  living  among  the  Moabites,  and 
I  cannot  bring  them  back."  Perhaps  you  cannot,  but  now 
the  call  of  the  Lord  comes  to  you  to  go  back  to  the  "  house  of 
bread,"  cost  what  it  may,  and  the  Lord  himself  makes  it  a  test- 
ing and  a  sifting  time.  Half  of  your  congregation  may  hve 
on  in  the  world  and  abandon  you,  but  the  other  half  will  go 
with  you  and  become  Ruths  {"  satisfied  ").  Bethlehem  is  the 
land  of  satisfaction  and  rest  and  fullness  of  blessing  for  them 
that  trust  in  the  Lord. 


SEPARATION  AND  SATISFACTION  i35 

The  second  chapter  of  this  history  relates  how,  from  the 
moment  of  their  entrance  into  God's  land  of  promised  bless- 
ing, the  time  of  peace  and  comfort  begins.  But  Naomi— the 
church  or  the  minister — has  not  yet  fully  waked  up  to  all  that 
God  intends  to  give  them,  and  all  that  she  can  say  is,  "  There 
is  a  kinsman  of  ours,  a  man  of  mighty  wealth,  one  of  the  chief 
men  in  Bethlehem.  This  is  the  time  of  barley  harvest ;  go, 
my  daughter,  and  glean  in  his  field."  *  Ruth  enters  the  field 
of  Boaz  (whose  name  signifies  "  in  him  is  strength  "  f),  and  her 
kinsman  observes  her  immediately  and  says,  "Who  is  that?" 
A  servant  replies,  "  She  is  Ruth  the  Moabitess,  the  daughter- 
in-law  of  Naomi."  Boaz  then  goes  up  to  her  and  says,  "  My 
daughter,  glean  nowhere  else;  keep  fast  by  my  maidens" — a 
grand  exhortation  to  the  young  Christian ;  but  that  is  not  all 
—  "and  whenever  you  want  food,  take  all  you  wish  from  the 
young  men's  provision."  Even  that  is  not  enough.  Boaz 
goes  to  the  young  men  and  says,  "  Let  drop  plenty  for  her,  as 
much  as  ever  she  can  carry."  Our  Boaz  is  a  glorious  man,  a 
man  of  mighty  wealth  and  love,  and  when  he  sees  a  stranger 
who  has  given  her  heart  to  the  people  of  the  Lord  he  will  give 
her  all  that  she  can  take ;  he  will  overload  her  with  benefits. 
He  says  also,  "  The  Lord  recompense  thy  work,  and  a  full  re- 

*  Five  and  twenty  years  ago,  when  I  first  preached  upon  the  Book  of 
Ruth,  I  remember  that  I  pointed  my  people  to  the  fact  that  people  must 
make  the  decision  and  come  out  from  the  world ;  then  I  carried  them  on 
into  the  future  and  told  them  that  they  might  go  and  glean,  and  that  they 
would  find  plenty  to  supply  all  their  need ;  but  that  was  all  I  could  say 
then.  Blessed  be  God,  I  now  know  something  better  even  than  that ;  but 
the  gleaning  comes  first. 

t  In  I  Kings  vii.  2 1  we  learn  that  there  were  two  pillars  to  the  temple, 
Jachin  ("  he  shall  establish  ")  and  Boaz  ("  in  him  [or  in  it]  is  strength  "). 
So  St.  Peter  says  (i  Pet.  v.  lo) :  "The  Lord  stablish,  strengthen,  and 
settle  you,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  bring  forth  fruit."  God  wants  us  to  be 
Jachinized  and  Boazized ;  he  wants  us  to  come  into  the  true  church,  and 
then  he  will  stablish  and  strengthen  and  settle  us. 


136  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

ward  be  given  thee  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  under  whose 
wings  thou  art  come  to  trust."  He  fills  her  apron,  her  cloak 
—everything  that  she  can  carry;  but  she  has  nothing  more 
than  she  can  take. 

But  gleaning,  after  all,  is  a  poor  trade ;  it  is  hard  work,  with 
comparatively  little  result ;  it  is  only  a  day-by-day  supply,  with 
much  toil.  So  many  Christians  have  never  been  taught  by 
their  ministers  and  leaders  anything  better  than  is  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Ruth.  They  go  into  the  field  and  labor  hard  and 
take  home  as  much  as  they  can  carry,  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  very  generous ;  but  that  never  makes  a  home  or  makes 
full  provision.    There  is  something  better  than  that  to  be  had. 

The  third  chapter  tells  us  that  Naomi  awakes  at  last,  and 
she  says,  "  My  daughter,  shall  I  not  seek  rest  for  thee,  that  it 
may  be  well  with  thee?  "  I  well  remember  when  I  first  saw 
that  text  in  its  fullness  and  realized  that  I  had  been  keeping 
my  people  upon  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  salvation— com- 
ing into  the  "  house  of  bread,"  and"  being  saved  from  the  world 
— and  had  been  giving  them  plenty  of  gleaning  to  do,  but  was 
always  urging  them  forward  into  the  field  of  work,  saying, 
"  Go  and  work ;  be  at  it."  Many  of  us  are  always  pushing 
the  young  workers  out  like  that,  and  are  getting  them  so 
weary!  They  come  home  from  their  Sunday-school  saying, 
"  It  is  a  great  weariness,  mother ;  but  I  will  do  it  for  your 
sake.  I  am  very  tired,  the  heat  is  so  great,  and  you  see  I 
have  not  brought  home  much.  The  good  Man  gave  me  as 
much  as  I  could  carry,  but  I  did  not  really  earn  it ;  only  his 
bounty  gave  me  this."  Now  Naomi  wakes  up  and  says,  "  My 
daughter,  there  is  something  better  to  be  had  than  this  glean- 
ing; shall  I  not  seek  rest  for  thee,  that  it  may  be  well  with 
thee?  "  Boaz  has  gathered  most  of  his  harvest  into  his  barn, 
and  is  about  to  celebrate  his  harvest  feast.  Naomi  says,  "  My 
daughter,  wash  thee  [in  the  Word  of  God],  put  on  thy  best 
clothes  [the  beautiful  garments  of  Zion],  go  down  to  his  feast,. 


SEPARATION  AND  SATISFACTION  137 

and  when  he  has  finished  you  He  down  at  his  feet  and  say 
nothing.  You  need  not  speak,  only  put  yourself  at  his  dis- 
posal and  see  what  he  will  do."  It  is  a  grand  moment,  be- 
loved, when  the  child  of  God  is  brought  to  the  feet  of  Jesus 
with  a  literal  abandonment  of  himself  to  the  tender  mercy  of 
the  Lord.  Go  and  throw  yourself  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
and  cover  yourself  with  his  robe ;  your  own  robe  is  not  enough, 
even  though  it  is  beautifully  wrought ;  put  his  robe  over  you 
and  wait.  Then,  when  he  sees  you  there,  say,  like  Ruth,  **  Do 
to  me  the  work  of  a  kinsman  " — a  redeemer.  He  will  reply, 
"  My  daughter,  with  the  morning  light  I  will  be  at  the  work 
for  you."  Ruth  goes  home,  and  the  mother  says,  "  Now,  my 
daughter,  sit  still;  I  am  seeking  rest  for  thee,  but  the  man 
himself  will  not  rest  until  he  has  carried  out  the  work  on  thy 
behalf." 

Now  the  fourth  chapter  shows  us  the  blessed  life  of  abun- 
dance and  fruitfulness.  The  morning  light  comes,  and  this  man 
Boaz,  the  mighty  man,  the  kinsman,  the  redeemer  for  those 
who  have  come  to  trust  him,  is  seen  sitting  in  the  gate.  He 
says  to  one  passing,  "Ho,  such  a  one!  turn  aside,  sit  down 
here."  Who  is  this  man?  He  also  is  a  kinsman,  and  repre- 
sents the  law,  which  has  the  first  legal  right  over  the  inheri- 
tance of  Elimelech.  He  has  a  right  to  take  it  for  his  own ; 
and  Boaz  asks,  "  Will  you  take  it  ?  "  The  law  is  always  very 
ready  to  press  its  claims,  and  repHes,  "  Of  course  I  will  take 
it ;  I  will  take  as  much  as  ever  I  can  get."  But  now  this 
blessed  redeemer  says,  "  If  you  take  the  land  you  must  also 
take  the  poor  outcast  woman  to  be  your  wife."  "  No,  no," 
replies  the  law,  "  I  know  nothing  of  marriage  between  me  and 
a  sinner."  You  may  labor  hard  under  the  law,  and  the  law 
may  claim  its  riches,  but  it  will  never  take  the  sinner  into  its 
home,  into  its  business,  into  its  prosperity,  and  to  bring  about 
fruitfulness;  the  law  knows  nothing  about  raising  up  seed. 
But  the  redeemer,  blessed  Boaz,  in  whom  is  strength,  says, 


138  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

"  If  you  do  not  take  the  woman  with  the  land,  you  can  claim 
nothing;  and  I  will  take  the  woman,  the  outcast  Moabitess, 
the  very  offspring  of  evil,  to  my  home,  and  she  shall  be  pro- 
claimed to  be  my  wife  before  all  the  world."  So  Boaz  took 
Ruth,  and  she  was  his  wife. 

Some  are  struggling  in  the  dark  to-day  hke  poor  Ruth ; 
they  are  down  at  Jesus'  feet,  but  they  can  see  nothing.  But 
the  morning  hght  has  come,  and  reveals  the  One  in  whom 
there  is  strength ;  he  stands  there  and  says,  "  Who  will  take 
this  poor  helpless  outcast,  the  representative  of  sin,  the  very 
embodiment  of  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord's  people?"  Al- 
though the  law  puts  in  a  claim  at  first,  the  law  will  not  redeem 
the  sinner;  and  so  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  bom  in 
Bethlehem  to  be  our  kinsman— our  Redeemer— claims  the 
rights  and  performs  the  work  of  a  redeemer.  He  will  take 
any  poor  outcast  such  as  you  and  will  turn  you  into  a  Ruth— 
one  who  is  literally  satisfied. 

Now  the  life  of  the  redeemed  one  becomes  changed ;  it  is 
no  longer  the  old  Moab  hfe  of  sin  and  worldliness,  with  no 
fruit;  it  is  no  longer  the  struggHng  hfe  of  the  gleaner,  who 
labors  day  after  day  and  gets,  like  the  Israelites  in  the  wilder- 
ness, just  as  much  as  one  can  gather.  Many  try  to  satisfy 
themselves  with  that ;  they  glean  hard,  and  then  seek  to  slake 
their  thirst  by  a  momentary  draft  from  the  vessels  of  the  young 
men ;  but  there  is  no  Ruth-life  in  such  a  supply.  You  may 
go  to  great  preachers  or  noted  teachers  day  after  day,  but 
what  you  take  from  them  will  never  satisfy  you,  for  they  are, 
after  all,  but  servants  of  the  great  Man  of  Bethlehem.  You 
must  go  to  the  great  Boaz  himself,  and  he  will  take  you  into 
his  house.  It  is  not  the  act  of  consecration  at  his  feet  that 
brings  the  desired  blessing.  That  is  very  important ;  you  must 
wash,  anoint,  and  cover  yourself  with  his  robes  of  righteous- 
ness, and  he  down  at  his  feet ;  but  that  is  not  enough.  Boaz 
himself  must  now  do  the  acting.     It  was  not  Ruth  who  took 


SEPARATION  AND  SATISFACTION  I39 

Boaz,  but  Boaz  who  took  Ruth ;  and  if  we  take  Ruth's  posi- 
tion, the  Lord  Jesus  will  take  us  into  his  home.  He  takes  us 
to  provide  for  us,  to  comfort  us,  to  bless  us,  to  satisfy  us,  to 
protect  us,  to  do  us  honor,  and  to  keep  our  names  bright  and 
beautiful  before  the  world.  Our  Boaz  says,  "Come,  come 
into  my  home,  and  I  will  be  keeper,  friend,  Savioiu",  Lord,  Mas- 
ter, husband,  provider;  you  shall  have  all  you  want,  for  all 
things  are  yours."  My  wife  does  not  speak  of  Mr.  Peploe's 
money— she  speaks  of  our  money;  she  does  not  speak  of  Mr. 
Peploe's  home  and  children— she  speaks  of  our  home,  our  chil- 
dren. Brethren,  a  true  Ruth,  when  she  goes  into  the  house  of 
a  true  Boaz,  has  all  that  he  has,  for  he  is  hers,  and  in  him  she 
has  everything  that  is  owned  by  him.  Then  the  woman 
comes  to  be  a  faithful,  obedient,  affectionate  wife.  But  how 
would  Boaz  have  felt  if  he  had  seen  Ruth  going  out  again  to 
glean  in  the  fields  like  a  common,  laboring,  outcast  woman? 
Would  he  not  have  been  distressed  ?  When  you,  my  brothers 
and  sisters,  spend  your  lives  in  scraping  together  a  few  ears  of 
corn  by  hard  toil— it  may  be  for  money,  it  may  be  for  ambition 
or  pleasure,  or  it  may  be  for  spiritual  provision  by  hard  labor — 
laboring  with  anxiety  and  yet  never  accomplishing  anything, 
perpetually  seeking  after  the  meager  provisions  of  the  young 
men  and  never  getting  any  real  satisfaction,  because  the  sun  is 
too  hot ;  while  you  are  gleaning  to  make  it  restful  and  peaceful, 
do  you  not  think  that  our  Boaz,  our  mighty  Man  of  wealth, 
is  grieved  to  his  very  soul?  Ruth  is  the  wife  of  Boaz,  and 
should  be  at  home  and  dispense  the  bounty  of  the  great  man, 
her  redeemer,  her  husband. 

I  remember  hearing  of  one  woman  who,  being  poor  herself, 
was  married  to  a  wealthy  man.  He  put  ten  thousand  dollars 
into  the  bank  for  her  to  spend  yearly  for  herself,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  year  he  said  to  her,  "  We  must  settle  up  the  banker's 
book.  Would  you  like  some  more  put  in?  "  SherepHed,  "  No, 
I  have  only  spent  a  hundred."     "  Why  did  you  not  spend  it 


I40  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

all?  I  have  plenty  more  whenever  you  want  it."  "  Well,"  she 
said,  "  I  thought  it  was  not  right  to  spend  so  much,  because 
I  am  poor."  "  But  I  am  rich."  "  But,"  she  answered,  "  I 
thought  that  there  might  come  a  day  of  need,  and  so  I  had 
better  keep  it."  That  grieved  the  husband  much.  He  said, 
"  Beloved,  I  meant  you  to  spend  it ;  I  have  more  than  you  will 
ever  need.  Take  it  and  use  it  and  give  it  away ;  I  meant  you 
to  give  it."  Ruth  was  meant  by  Boaz  to  be  giving,  giving, 
giving.  Suppose  that  a  poor  Moabitess  had  come  up  to  the 
door  and  asked  for  a  crumb  of  bread,  and  Ruth  had  said,  "  I 
cannot  afford  to  give  you  any."  Would  not  Boaz  have  been 
ashamed  of  his  wife  ?  And  is  not  the  Lord  Jesus  ashamed 
of  us  when  he  sees  that  we  are  so  shabby  and  give  so  httle  ? 

I  recently  heard  of  two  ladies  who  were  comparatively  poor, 
but  who  were  thought  to  be  lovely  Christians,  and  who  gave 
liberally  to  all  the  church  charities.  One  day  the  rector  of 
their  church  learned  that  they  had  come  into  a  large  fortune, 
and  he  thought  that  of  course  their  subscriptions  would  be 
doubled  or  quadrupled.  But  at  the  end  of  the  year,  when  the 
subscriptions  came  in,  there  was  not  a  farthing  from  either  of 
them.     He  asked  the  man  who  had  been  sohciting,  "Have 

you  been  to  the  Misses ?"     *'Yes."     "What  did  they 

say?"  "They  said  they  could  not  give  anything."  "They 
have  not  left  the  church  ?  "  "  No."  The  rector  called  on  them 
and  said,  "  I  congratulate  you  on  the  fortune  that  has  come  to 
you."  "  Yes,"  they  said,  "  we  have  had  a  great  deal."  "  Have 
you  left  the  church?  "  "  Dear,  no."  "  But  I  do  not  see  your 
names  on  any  of  the  subscriptions  this  year ;  may  I  ask  the  rea- 
son ?  "  "  Well,"  they  said,  "  when  we  were  poor  our  money 
was  not  worth  taking  care  of ;  but  now  that  the  Lord  has  sent 
us  so  much,  it  is  our  duty  to  be  very  careful  of  it  and  keep  it 
safely." 

The  Lord  calls  each  one  of  us  to  a  position  where  we  may 
have  abimdance  and  satisfaction.     Let  it  be  known  that  you 


SEPARATION  AND  SATISFACTION  141 

are  indeed  the  grand  lady  of  Bethlehem,  and  go  dispensing 
God's  bounty  everywhere  in  gratitude  and  humility,  in  love 
and  devotion ;  then  your  fruitfulness  will  begin.  A  son  is  bom 
who  is  the  grandfather  of  King  David,  and  Ruth  thus  becomes 
the  true  and  lawful  ancestress  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

You  must  make  a  choice.  Stand  upon  the  hill  of  decision. 
Eastward  is  Moab,  with  its  rich  plains,  such  as  Lot  saw  stretch 
toward  Sodom ;  westward,  far  away— it  looks  like  a  very  peril- 
ous journey — Hes  Bethlehem,  the  "  house  of  bread."  The  Lord 
can  bring  you  safely  and  provide  for  you.  Make  the  decision, 
and  he  will  call  you,  not  to  continue  gleaning,  but  to  he  at  Boaz' 
feet ;  look  up  into  his  face  and  say,  "  My  Redeemer."  You 
will  learn  that  "  in  him  is  strength,"  and  you  will  come  out  so 
satisfied  that  you  will  never  know  what  it  is  to  be  fretted,  trou- 
bled, or  fearful  again,  but  you  will  rest  in  the  Lord. 


THE   REST   OF   GOD 


**  I  was  grieved  with  that  generation,  and  said,  They  do  always  err  in 
their  heart ;  and  they  have  not  known  my  ways.  So  I  sware  in  my  wrath, 
They  shall  not  enter  into  my  rest.  .  .  .  And  to  whom  sware  he  that  they 
should  not  enter  into  his  rest,  but  to  them  that  believed  not?  So  we  see 
that  they  could  not  enter  in  because  of  unbelief.  .  .  .  For  we  which  have 
believed  do  enter  into  rest,  as  he  said.  As  I  have  sworn  in  my  wrath,  if 
they  shall  enter  into  my  rest :  although  the  works  were  finished  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  [When  God  finished  his  work  of  creation,  rest 
was  to  have  begun  for  God  and  his  creatures.]  For  he  spake  in  a  certain 
place  of  the  seventh  day  on  this  wise,  And  God  did  rest  the  seventh  day 
from  all  his  works.  And  in  this  place  again,  If  they  shall  enter  into  my 
rest.  Seeing  therefore  it  remaineth  that  some  must  enter  therein,  and  they 
to  whom  it  was  first  preached  entered  not  in  because  of  unbelief :  again,  he 
limiteth  a  certain  day,  saying  in  David,  To-day,  after  so  long  a  time ;  as  it 
is  said.  To-day  [never  to-morrow ;  God  limits  his  blessings  only  by  saying 
Now!]  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts.  For  if  Jesus 
[Joshua]  had  given  them  [Israel]  rest,  then  would  he  not  afterward  have 
spoken  of  another  day.  There  remaineth  therefore  a  rest  [a  Sabbath]  to 
the  people  of  God.  For  he  that  is  entered  into  his  rest  [God's  rest],  he 
also  hath  ceased  from  his  own  works,  as  God  did  from  his.  Let  us  labor 
therefore  [the  only  labor  we  have*]  to  enter  into  that  rest,  lest  any  man  fall 
after  the  same  example  of  unbelief.  "—Hebrews  hi.  io,  i  i,  i8,  19 ;  iv.  3-1 1. 

TAKE  this  short  paraphrase  of  the  entire  passage  in  this 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  which  treats  of  rest,  as  the  key- 
thought  of  the  whole  of  God's  Word.  "  God  is  one,"  says  St. 
Paul  (Gal.  iii.  20) ;  if,  then,  there  is  an  absolute  unity  in  the  being 

*  Works  are  not  labor.  The  only  labor  that  we  have  now  is  to  enter  into 
something  glorious  and  eternal.    (Cf.  Rev.  xiv.  13  and  Eph.  ii.  10.) 

142 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  145 

and  attributes  of  God,  there  must  be  a  unity  of  purpose  and  a 
unity  of  operation  in  his  works  and  in  all  of  his  revelations  to 
man.  We  know  that  there  is  scientifically  an  absolute  unity  in 
the  works  of  creation,  called  into  existence  by  God's  spoken 
word.  There  is  also  an  absolute  unity  in  the  person  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Word  made  flesh,  which  dwelt  among 
us.  He  is  the  embodiment  of  God's  creative  power,  for  all 
things  were  created  by  him  and  for  him,  in  him  and  to  his 
glory.  There  must  also  be  an  absolute  unity  in  the  written 
Word,  though  it  was  spoken  "at  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners."  There  is  thus  an  absolute  unity  in  all  the  revela- 
tions of  God,  although  in  our  ignorance  and  folly  and  feeble- 
ness we  may  not  be  able  always  to  discover  it. 

Now  if  this  be  true  with  regard  to  the  written  Word  as 
well  as  with  regard  to  the  creative  word  and  the  embodied 
Word,  we  are  justified  in  searching  God's  holy  Book  to  discover 
the  one  great  thought,  one  great  design,  which  runs  through  it, 
and  we  shall  never  fully  understand  these  revelations  of  God 
until  we  see  the  unity  of  purpose  through  the  whole.  To 
discover  this  we  must  "  search  the  Scriptures,"  as  our  blessed 
Lord  says ;  we  must  "  dig  deep  "  into  the  very  depths  of  the 
Scriptures,  "for  in  them  ye  think  [and  think  rightly]  ye 
have  eternal  hfe;  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me." 
Every  scripture  brings  men  to  Christ ;  every  true  preacher  brings 
men  to  Christ ;  everything  in  this  earth  is  to  bring  men  to  Christ 
and  from  Christ  to  God.  If,  then,  the  purpose  of  God's  reve- 
lation is  wrapped  up  in  Christ,  the  question  arises,  What  is  it 
in  Christ  that  we  are  intended  to  discover  in  order  that  we  may 
be  fully  blessed  and  become  a  blessing  to  those  round  about 
us  ?  My  answer  is  that  from  close  study  of  God's  Word  I  am 
led  to  believe  that  this  particular  passage  in  Hebrews  sums  up 
all  the  purpose  of  God  in  creation  and  in  his  subsequent  reve- 
lation through  his  prophets  and  in  his  Son.  This  purpose  is 
that  man,  and  with  man  all  creation  around  him,  should  enter 


144  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

into  THE  REST  OF  GOD.  No  Other  solution  of  the  question  has 
ever  satisfied  my  soul  or  served  to  unlock  the  holy  Book.  If  this 
be  true  we  shall  discover  in  this  revealed  Word,  we  shall  dis- 
cover in  the  world,  and  we  shall  discover  in  Christ  one  grand 
truth,  namely,  rest,  and  that  rest  the  rest  of  God. 

We  notice  that  the  very  moment  when  creation  was  finished 
(Heb.  iv.  4;  Gen.  ii.  2)  the  great  God,  Elohim,  who  called 
creation  into  existence,  is  said  to  have  "entered  into  rest." 
The  first  event  in  the  history  of  the  universe  that  God  has 
been  pleased  to  reveal  to  the  sons  of  men  is  that  as  soon  as 
his  word  had  operated  to  call  creation  into  existence,  then 
he  rested  from  all  his  works  of  creation.  There  was  no 
labor  to  God,  for  labor  is  the  result  of  sin,  and  labor  will 
cease  when  sin  has  ceased.  Works  will  never  cease,  because 
they  are  godlike ;  God  worketh  hitherto,  and  will  continue  to 
work  throughout  eternity. 

Now  if  the  design  of  God  in  these  revelations  is  to  bring 
men  into  "  his  rest,"  it  behooves  us  to  inquire  carefully  what 
are  the  characteristics  of  the  rest  of  God.  Is  it  a  cessation 
from  work?  No ;  the  Lord  Jesus  said,  "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  I  work."  It  is  not,  therefore,  rest  in  the  sense 
of  inaction.  Is  it  sleep  ?  Hearken  to  the  prophet  Elijah  as 
he  mocks  the  prophets  of  Baal,  saying,  "  Cry  aloud :  for  he  is 
a  god ;  either  he  is  talking,  or  he  is  pursuing,  or  he  is  in  a 
journey,  or  peradventure  he  sleepeth,  and  must  be  awaked." 
But,  as  says  the  psalmist,  "  Behold,  he  that  keepeth  Israel  shall 
neither  slumber  nor  sleep."  It  is  only  because  of  sin  that  we 
think  of  rest  as  mere  inactivity  or  quiescence,  and  thus  mistake 
the  thought  altogether.  It  would  be  a  mistake,  if  not  a  sin,  to 
speak  of  God  as  entering  upon  a  condition  of  sleep  or  inaction. 

The  rest  upon  which  God  entered  as  soon  as  the  works  of 
creation  were  finished  is  explained  to  my  mind  by  the  words 
of  the  psalmist:  "The  Lord  shall  rejoice  in  all  his  works."* 

*  Ps.  civ.  31. 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  145 

Creation  answered  to  the  purpose  of  God's  mind,  satisfying  him 
completely  in  all  that  he  had  intended ;  therefore  God  rested 
from  the  work  of  creation,  because  there  was  no  need  to  cre- 
ate anything  more.  He  was  satisfied  in  what  he  saw  his  works 
doing,  for  we  read  that  "  God  saw  everything  that  he  had  made, 
and,  behold,  it  was  very  good."  That  was  rest.  God  was  sat- 
isfied, and  he  watched  his  creation  with  delight.  I  suppose 
that  the  satisfaction  of  God  may  have  been  in  the  fulfilment 
of  his  heart's  desire  in  seeing  his  work  carrying  out  his  great 
purpose  of  love,  of  beauty,  and  of  holiness,  all  things  answer- 
ing to  his  creative  mind. 

We  may  perhaps  dare  to  illustrate  this  by  some  work  of 
what  we  call  our  own  creation — an  engine,  a  watch,  or  any 
other  such  mechanism  which  may  be  called  into  existence  by 
the  faculties  with  which  God  has  endowed  us.  When  a  machine 
or  engine  answers  to  the  inventor's  mind  in  its  construction  and 
operation  there  is  rest.  There  is  not  inaction ;  on  the  contraiy, 
there  is  ceaseless  activity ;  but  there  is  the  rest  of  satisfaction 
because  the  thing  created  answers  to  the  purpose  for  which 
the  creative  mind  called  it  into  existence.  This  is  the  rest  of 
God  at  the  outset  of  the  world's  history,  so  far  as  I  could  dare 
attempt  to  define  it,  and  so  far  as  our  knowledge  goes. 

The  moment  that  the  great  work  of  creation  is  ended,  man, 
the  last  of  God's  creative  works,  is  called  into  the  enjoyment 
of  God's  rest.  There  is  perfect  blessing  for  man ;  he  has  do- 
minion over  the  works  of  God's  hands,  he  has  come  into  the 
rest  of  God,  he  has  joy  and  peace,  he  delights  in  his  wife  and 
his  wife  in  him ;  there  is  holy  happiness  in  Eden  because  man 
has  taken  his  proper  place  as  the  headstone  of  God's  creation ; 
God  is  satisfied  and  man  is  blessed.  That  is  God's  rest  and 
man's  enjoyment  of  it.  But  sin  enters  into  the  world  and  at 
once  brings  preeminently  a  condition  of  unrest.  Henceforth 
there  is  no  rest  in  any  part  of  creation ;  man  begins  to  toil  and 
labor,  eating  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow ;  woman  must  toil 


146  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

and  labor  in  the  pain  of  childbirth.  Everything  on  earth  is  in 
trouble  and  distress,  not  because  man  has  fallen  and  God  is 
scourging  him,  but  because  there  is  a  severance  between  the 
creature  and  the  Creator ;  this  brings  distress  instead  of  peace, 
sorrow  and  suffering  instead  of  bliss ;  all  is  henceforth  unrest. 
But  are  the  purposes  of  the  divine  Being  to  be  thwarted  because 
Satan  has  intruded  himself  into  God's  creation?  Surely  not.  God 
will  somehow  carry  out  his  mighty  purpose  of  love ;  but  how? 

From  the  time  when  Adam  fell,  for  six  thousand  years,  God 
has  been  carrying  out  his  purposes  of  love,  mercy,  grace,  and 
wisdom  to  overthrow  the  action  of  Satan  and  to  bring  creation 
back  into  that  blessed  condition  of  rest  which  it  formerly  en- 
joyed ;  and  he  has  been  seeking  by  his  grace  so  to  establish 
his  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus  that  they  shall  never  fall  again. 
There  lies  the  difference  between  us  and  Adam.  Adam  had  the 
rest  and  the  privilege  of  seeing  and  communing  with  God  ;  but 
Adam  fell  because  he  was  not  so  perfectly  linked  to  God  as  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  Satan  injuring  him.  When  our  con- 
dition is  finally  completed  there  will  be  no  possibility  of  our 
falling.  Why?  Because  we  will  be  so  Hnked  to  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  that,  speaking  divinely,  not  humanly,  neither  Satan  nor 
any  other  power  can  drag  us  from  that  position.  But  how  is 
such  a  condition  to  be  brought  about?  If  we  rightly  interpret 
the  rich  purposes  of  God  in  Christ  we  shall  expect  that  wher- 
ever God  sets  about  to  thwart  and  overthrow  the  work  of  the 
devil  and  to  bring  about  a  final  condition  of  bliss,  there  will 
appear  the  idea  of  rest.  We  shall  expect  to  find  this  idea  in 
some  form  in  what  we  call  the  recreation  or  restoration  or  "  res- 
titution of  all  things."  Look  at  the  history  of  God's  dealings 
with  man  and  see  if  this  is  the  case. 

In  the  early  history  of  man  we  meet  with  God's  first  great 
open  attempt  to  bring  about  a  restoration  from  the  condition 
into  which  man  had  fallen.  Adam's  descendants  sank  deeper 
and  deeper  into  sin,  until  at  last  God  was  compelled  to  bring 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  I47 

a  flood  of  waters  over  the  face  of  the  earth  and  to  overthrow 
the  whole  human  race  with  eight  exceptions— Noah  and  his  wife 
and  his  three  sons  and  their  wives  alone  are  spared.  Is  it  not 
remarkable  that  Noah's  name  means  "rest,"  and  that,  at  the  mo- 
ment when  God  takes  him  into  the  ark  and  places  him  in  the 
position  of  a  saved  one  in  the  midst  of  the  flood-tide  that  is 
bringing  destruction  on  all  the  remainder  of  the  human  race, 
Noah  rests  with  his  family  in  perfect  safety  and  peace— a  posi- 
tion typical  of  the  salvation  of  our  souls  in  Christ  Jesus?  More- 
over, the  moment  that  the  ark  has  finished  its  mission  of  saving 
men,  and  when  God's  flood  is  being  removed  from  the  earth, 
we  read  that  the  "  ark  rested."  God's  work  was  accomplished, 
and  there  was  now  rest  and  the  beginning  of  a  new  creation. 
Noah  and  his  family  are  brought  from  the  ark  and  offer  up 
their  sacrifices  to  God.  This  is  the  first  sacrifice  in  the  restored 
world,  and  we  read  that  "God  smelled  a  sweet  savor"— the 
Hebrew  is,  "God  smelled  a  savor  of  rest;"  and  ever  after- 
ward throughout  the  Bible,  when  sacrifices  to  God  are  spoken 
of  as  a  sweet  savor,  the  Hebrew  is  "  a  savor  of  rest."  *  From 
the  moment  when  God  rescued  Noah,  the  typical  man  of  rest, 
from  the  place  of  destruction  and  put  him  into  the  restored 
earth,  this  one  idea  stands  out  prominently :  that  every  sacri- 
fice to  God  that  is  well  pleasing  in  his  eyes  is  a  sacrifice  in 
which  there  is  a  savor  of  rest. 

*  Numbers  xxviii.  2  describes  how  God's  people  are  beginning  to  offer 
sacrifices  in  the  wilderness,  and  we  read,  "  My  sacrifices,  ...  a  sweet 
savor,"  or"  My  sacrifices,  ...  a  savor  of  rest."  In  Ezra  vi.  10,  where  we 
read  that  the  returning  captives  from  Babylon  are  told  to  offer  up  sacrifices 
to  God  "  of  sweet  savors,"  again  it  is  in  the  margin,  "  sacrifices  of 
savors  of  rest."  It  is  the  same  in  Ezekiel  xvi.  19,  20,  where  God  says,  in  re- 
proaching his  people  for  their  sin,  that  they  had  taken  his  "  savors  of  rest," 
and  had  offered  them  up  to  other  gods ;  and  in  chapter  xx.  41,  where 
Ezekiel  says  that,  when  the  people  shall  be  restored  to  their  land  in  the 
fullness  of  God's  favor,  then  shall  they  offer  unto  him  "  sweet  savors  in 
sacrifices." 


148  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

But  this  rest  in  Noah's  day  was  only  a  physical,  a  natural 
rest;  only  the  earth  was  here  partially  restored.  Noah 
stepped  out  upon  the  material  creation  which  God  had  deigned 
to  bring  to  a  partial  restitution ;  but  God's  purposes  show  us 
that  there  is  no  rest  to  be  had  in  the  physical  world.  You  may 
alter  your  siuroundings,  your  character,  your  physical  con- 
duct, and  your  business,  but  there  never  will  be  rest  in  that, 
because  it  was  no  more  the  rest  of  God  than  was  the  ark 
resting  upon  Mount  Ararat,  and  Noah  resting  in  a  new  crea- 
tion of  the  world.  Thus  we  see  that  Noah  immediately  fell 
and  became  as  much  of  a  sinner  as  his  forefathers.  He  is 
a  witness  to  the  fact  that  although  a  man  may  be  entitled  a 
man  of  rest,  and  may  be  given  a  material  rest  in  a  new  phys- 
ical condition,  there  is  no  rest  for  any  man  which  is  not  linked 
to  God. 

God  must  therefore  show  another  proof  of  his  mighty  power. 
Once  again  man  sank  deeper  and  deeper  into  sin,  until  the 
chosen  race  of  Abraham  became  a  set  of  slaves,  and  there  was 
apparently  no  hope  for  man,  for  everything  was  in  a  condition 
of  unrest  and  distress  that  is  painful  to  contemplate.  There 
was  not  a  human  being  on  earth,  when  Moses  comes  forward, 
who  could  be  described  as  knowing  what  rest  meant.  But 
now  suddenly  God  creates  a  new  order  of  things  in  a  night ; 
as  he  had  created  a  new  family  of  men  in  Noah,  so  in  the 
people  of  Israel  he  creates  a  new  nation  for  himself.  God  hfts 
Israel  out  of  their  bitter  bondage  and  the  awful  unrest  of  cap- 
tivity and  heathendom,  and  the  very  first  thing  that  Pharaoh 
says  to  Moses  (Exod.  v.  5)  is:  "The  people  of  the  land  now 
are  many,  and  ye  make  them  rest  from  their  burdens."  How 
blessed  that  even  the  devil  knows  that  God  has  sent  his  servants 
to  make  us  rest!  Then  the  first  historical  statement  which  we 
have  recorded  concerning  Israel  after  they  had  left  Egypt  is 
the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  (Exod.  xvi.  23).  This  is  long  be- 
fore they  came  to  Mount  Sinai,  where  they  received  the  tables 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  I49 

of  the  law.*  From  that  time  forward  everything  in  Israel's 
history  is  typical ;  the  people  who  were  rescued  from  the  land 
of  Egypt  were  intended  to  be  one  grand  exhibition  of  God's 
power  upon  material  creation  and  upon  ignorant  men.  Here 
we  notice  the  difference  between  Noah  and  Israel.  Noah, 
coming  out  of  the  ark,  merely  came  into  a  material  new  crea- 
tion ;  his  was  a  physical  deliverance  and  was  also  meant  to  be  a 
moral,  but  was  not  a  spiritual,  deHverance.  Israel  never  entered 
into  the  spiritual  rest,  alas!  and  therefore  they  fell  into  idola- 
try ;  but  God,  in  separating  them  to  himself,  purposed  to  give 
them  a  model  new  creation,  and  took  them  up  to  Mount  Sinai 
that  they  might  see  the  moral  mind  and  will  of  God.  Alas! 
their  stubborn  hearts  resented  the  divine  purpose,  and  all  that 
they  could  see  in  the  Sabbath  day  was  rest  from  toil.  They 
ceased  from  their  physical  labors  because  God  commanded  it, 
but  they  saw  no  spiritual  purpose  in  the  Sabbath.  The  Ninety- 
fifth  Psalm  teaches  us  that  God's  purpose  was  not  merely  to 
take  them  out  of  Egypt,  not  merely  to  make  them  stop  working 
one  day  in  seven,  not  merely  even  to  take  them  into  the  land 
of  Canaan ;  for,  as  we  read  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  if 
Jesus  (Joshua)  had  given  them  true  rest  in  Canaan,  where  they 
had  entered  physically,  he  would  never  have  spoken  of  another 
day. 

Israel  went  into  Canaan,  but  did  not  enter  the  rest  of  God. 
All  God's  typical  gifts  to  them  failed  to  raise  their  moral  tone, 
because  they  would  not  see  that  earthly  things  were  all  figures 
of  the  spiritual,  and  were  intended  to  lead  men  to  the  spiritual. 
But  no  man  can  retain  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  without 
seeing  that  at  every  point  God  met  them  with  this  one  idea, 

*  Those  who  taunt  Christians  with  being  no  better  than  Jews  because 
they  observe  the  Sabbath  day  as  a  holy  day  might  well  remember  that  the 
observance  started  at  creation  and  not  at  Sinai.  Therefore  it  is  no  Jewish 
superstition  at  all,  but  it  is  an  inherent  fact  that  God's  people,  wherever 
they  are,  are  in  duty  bound  to  keep  a  holy  Sabbath. 


15°  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

that  there  must  be  a  Sabbath  of  rest.  In  the  twenty-fifth  chap- 
ter of  Leviticus  the  land  is  ordered  to  have  its  Sabbath ;  in  the 
thirtieth  of  Exodus  and  elsewhere  the  people  are  ordered  to 
keep  a  Sabbath.  In  the  prophets  again  and  again  the  people 
and  the  land  are  enjoined  always  to  observe  a  Sabbath.  The 
meaning  of  this  evidently  was  that  as  Israel's  history  was  typ- 
ical of  the  spiritual  life,  the  people  should  have  understood 
that  a  merely  physical  rest  upon  the  seventh  day  was  only  a 
type  of  something  better,  and  that  even  Canaan,  the  land  of 
rest,  the  land  of  privilege,  the  land  of  possession,  even  the  en- 
trance into  Canaan,  was  not  enough  to  give  them  experience 
in  the  rest  of  God.  If  you  take  possession  of  the  gifts  of  God 
and  expect  to  find  that  they  will  make  you  rest,  you  will  find 
that  you  are  mistaken.  The  people  of  Israel  never  gave  their 
hearts  to  God,  they  never  saw  the  piu-pose  of  God,  and  so 
throughout  the  prophets  we  find  the  one  grand  idea  that  God 
is  yearning  to  bring  his  people  not  only  out  of  Egypt  and 
through  the  wilderness  into  Canaan,  but  into  the  rest  of  God, 
which  is  perfect  satisfaction  in  the  finished  work,  and  the  en- 
joyment of  that  work  in  activity,  peace,  and  power.* 

Noah  was  meant  to  enter  into  the  rest  of  God  when  he  was 
delivered  from  the  ark.  He  was  to  see  God's  hand  in  the  new 
creation,  and  was  to  take  it  and  to  use  it  joyfully.  He  fell 
through  abusing  the  works  of  God,  and  lost  rest  through  sin. 
The  Israelites  were  meant  to  see  that  God's  deliverance  was  a 
perfect  physical  and  a  perfect  moral  dehverance,  that  they  were 
delivered  from  Egypt  physically  that  they  might  be  saved  from 

*  Jeremiah,  in  the  sixteenth  verse  of  the  sixth  chapter,  says  that  if  the 
people  would  only  go  back  to  the  old  ways  and  see  the  paths  of  God,  they 
should  find  rest  for  their  souls.  The  Lord  Jesus  is  quoting  that  very  pas- 
sage from  Jeremiah  when  he  says  (Matt.  xi.  28),  "  I  will  give  you  rest." 
The  prophet  Zephaniah  says  that  God  will  rest  in  his  love.  Isaiah  says 
that  his  rest  shall  be  glorious  when  he  has  finished  his  mighty  work. 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  151 

the  burdens  of  the  taskmasters,  but  that  they  were  also  saved 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  from  the  wrath  of  God.  They 
could  not  enter  into  God's  rest  because  of  unbelief.  They 
entered  Canaan,  but  that  was  not  rest.  The  rest  which  they 
should  have  entered  was  the  perfect  satisfaction  to  the  mind 
of  God,  the  carrying  out  of  God's  purposes  by  the  indwelling 
influence  and  power  of  God  himself.  Israel  fell,  and  for  fif- 
teen hundred  years  we  have  one  great  lamentation  of  the 
mighty  God  that  his  chosen  people  would  not  enter  into  his 
holy  rest.  Israel  the  blessed,  Israel  the  privileged,  Israel  the 
honored,  Israel  the  chosen,  like  the  Americans  and  English  to- 
day, failed  to  enter  into  the  rest  of  God  because  they  never 
would  learn  spiritual  truths  from  typical  facts  and  through  the 
typical  attain  unto  the  spiritual. 

Physical  and  moral  deliverance  both  failed  because  man's 
heart  had  not  been  regenerated.  Now  notice  the  third  stage 
in  God's  endeavor  to  bring  mankind  into  his  rest.  From  the 
time  of  Adam's  fall  God  never  again  intervened  with  a  phys- 
ical deliverance  except  in  the  creation  of  Noah,  and  in  the 
new  creation,  Israel ;  but  again  he  discloses  his  one  great  pur- 
pose in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  blessed  Saviour.  That 
wonderful  old  prophet  Jacob,  when,  as  he  was  dying,  he 
blessed  his  children,  said  that  the  power  should  rest  with  Judah 
"till  Shiloh  come."  For  long  years  that  expression  puzzled 
our  forefathers,  and  there  have  been  many  discussions  as  to 
the  meaning  of  the  name  "  Shiloh."  At  last,  however,  there 
has  come  to  be  a  very  general  opinion  among  Bible  scholars 
that  Shiloh  here  means  "  one  that  shall  give  rest."  Shiloh  was 
to  come  that  he  might  give  rest ;  and  as  soon  as  Immanuel, 
the  new  Man,  came  to  earth  and  began  his  blessed  course  of 
instruction  preparatory  to  his  final  work,  he  said,  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.     Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me;  for  I  am 


152  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls."  Do  not  forget  that  two  stages  are  here  mentioned — 
Christ  will  not  only  give  you  rest,  he  will  also  make  you  Ji?id 
rest  when  you  take  his  yoke.  The  Lord  Jesus  came  as  Shiloh 
to  give  rest ;  but  how  is  this  to  be  accomphshed?  Follow  him 
in  his  career  on  earth  and  notice  how  he  is  ever  preaching  that 
rest  is  to  be  had  in  the  spiritual  domain.  He  does  not  speak 
of  natural,  of  mere  physical  rest,  he  does  not  say  much  con- 
cerning moral  rest,  as  though  these  could  really  change  men, 
but  he  speaks  of  the  "new  creation  "—one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting subjects  for  study  in  the  whole  Bible. 

When  the  great  God,  Elohim,  completed  his  creation,  his 
name  being  mentioned  thirty-five  times  (Gen.  i.  i-ii.  3),  we  are 
told  that  God  rested  from  all  his  works,  and  beheld  that  they 
were  all  very  good.  Four  thousand  years  after  Adam's  fall 
the  Lord,  Jehovah,  was  working  to  make  a  new  creation.  In 
the  physical  case  of  the  ark  and  the  deluge  it  failed ;  in  the 
physical  and  moral  case  of  Israel  it  failed.  But  then  Jesus 
Christ  came,  and  what  is  he  called  ?  He  is  the  new  Man,  the 
second  Adam ;  he  is  the  topstone  of  God's  creation.  But  as 
in  Adam's  fall  the  resulting  corruption  and  loss  of  rest  worked 
downward  from  the  man  to  the  lowest  form  of  creation,  so  in 
the  recovery  from  the  effects  of  the  fall  by  the  creation  of  the 
new  Man  the  restoration  of  rest  shall  work  downward  from  the 
higher  to  the  lower,  from  the  spiritual  to  the  material. 

When  Jesus  comes  to  earth,  he  is  born  as  a  babe,  ripens  into 
manhood,  and  at  last,  at  the  moment  of  his  death,  he  looks 
up  into  heaven  from  Calvary's  cross  and  says,  "  It  is  finished." 
Those  very  words  are  used  concerning  the  creation  of  Elohim  : 
"  God  ended  [finished]  his  works."  Now  notice  the  beautiful 
thought  contained  in  the  next  verse,  after  Jesus  had  bowed  his 
head  and  said,  "  It  is  finished,"  and  after  he  had  given  up  the 
ghost.  The  Lord  told  the  writer  to  say  (John  xix.  31)  that  it 
was  "the  preparation."     The  preparation  for  what?     For  the 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  153 

Sabbath,  and  that  "rest-day  "  was  a  high  day.*  Christ  Jesus 
had  to  die,  and  the  moment  he  gave  his  spirit  into  the  hands 
of  his  Father  he  said,  "  It  is  finished."  The  new  Man,  the  sec- 
ond Adam,  the  Lord  from  heaven,  was  now  finished;  God's 
topstone  of  creation  was  ready  for  the  new  creation ;  the  Son  of 
man  as  the  Son  of  God  had  now  become  the  finished  Man, 
that  God's  great  purpose  of  rest  might  be  accomphshed.  In  the 
fourth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  tenth 
verse  we  read :  "  He  [Jesus  Christ]  that  is  entered  into  his 
[God's]  rest,  he  also  hath  ceased  from  his  own  works,  as  God 
did  from  his."  God  the  Father  finished  the  first  creation  and 
rested ;  so  also  God  the  Son  finished  the  second  creation  and 
rested ;  he  entered  into  God's  rest,  and  ceased  from  his  own 
works,  as  God  did  from  his. 

The  rest  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  perfect  Man  has, 
then,  begun.  What  means  the  wonderful  statement  of  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  that  "  if  any  man  be  in  Christ  there  is  a  new  creation  " 
(2  Cor.  V.  17)?  The  moment  that  one  by  one  we  are  made 
part  of  the  body  of  Christ  we  are  taken  into  Christ  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  But  Christ  has  entered  into  God's  rest ;  there- 
fore when  we  enter  into  Christ  we  enter  into  his  rest.  Now 
he  that  is  entered  into  God's  rest  hath  ceased  from  his  own 
works.  Blessed  thought,  that  we  have  done  with  our  own 
works,  that  we  have  done  with  every  attempt  to  make  a  right- 
eousness of  our  own,  that  we  have  done  with  every  attempt  to 
make  glory  for  ourselves  and  to  make  men  of  ourselves! 
Why  are  we  always  trying  to  make  grand  men  of  ourselves? 
What  fools  we  are!  The  new  man  is  already  made,  and  if 
you  are  a  saved  soul  you  cannot  make  another  man,  you  can- 
not be  another  man ;  you  are  in  Christ,  and  have  ceased  from 
your  own  works,  as  God  did  from  his — and  that  is  rest. 

*  Compare  Mark  xv.  42,  and  notice  that  it  reads  :  "  When  the  even  was 
come,  because  it  was  the  preparation,  that  is,  the  day  before  the  Sabbath  " 
— the  day  before  the  rest-day. 


154  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

Now  what  does  Jesus  Christ  find  in  the  rest  of  God?  He 
finds  that  the  creation,  the  new  man,  answers  to  the  mind  of 
the  Creator,  Jehovah,  and  is  sufficient  to  carry  out  all  the  pur- 
poses of  God ;  therefore  the  delight  of  God  is  in  his  finished 
work.  Christ  also,  as  the  Son  of  God,  takes  delight  in  the  fin- 
ished work  and  says,  ''  It  answers  to  the  mind  of  God,  it  ful- 
fils his  purpose ;  let  it  work."  He  says,  "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  I  work."  My  brother,  you  need  not  work;  it  is 
Christ  who  works,  and  you  are  "  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto 
good  works,"  which  God  has  prepared  that  you  may  walk  in 
them.  Poor  planning  fools,  what  are  we  doing,  fidgeting  and 
fretting  about  to-morrow?  We  have  no  work  of  our  own  to 
do ;  Christ  Jesus  is  the  finished  work,  and  we  have  but  to  walk 
according  to  the  good  works  already  prepared  by  God. 

The  original  creation  came  into  existence  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest.  Then  came  the  fall  and  took  effect  from  the 
highest  down  to  the  lowest,  so  that  the  whole  creation  groan- 
eth  and  travaileth.  Now  the  recovery  is  to  follow  the  same 
order  as  the  fall.  Sin  began  with  the  man  and  his  wife  with  him, 
so  the  recovery  begins  with  the  new  Man  and  the  bride  in 
him ;  the  bride  is  now  hidden  in  the  Man  until  the  day  when 
she  shall  come  forth  complete  to  enjoy  the  creation  of  God. 
Brethren,  the  bride  is  now  being  formed  in  the  Man,  though 
invisibly  to  us,  member  by  member,  through  the  Holy  Ghost. 
When  Christ  died  and  ascended  into  heaven  he  ceased  abso- 
lutely from  his  own  works,  as  God  did  from  his ;  but  as  there 
is  a  third  person  of  the  Trinity,  there  must  be  a  third  work  of 
creation,  for  God  always  works  in  trinities  and  unities.  Thus 
the  Holy  Ghost  comes  when  Christ's  work  is  ended,  and  he 
takes  poor  miserable  mortal  men  hke  you  and  me  (but  we  are 
men,  and  God  loves  men),  and  one  by  one  he  introduces  us 
into  the  Son  of  God,  so  that  we  are  hidden  in  Christ.  There 
is  a  new  creation,  but  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  out  of  sight.  The 
work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  third  person  in  the  Trinity,  is 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  155 

going  on  continually,  and  at  last  there  will  be  a  perfect  bride, 
spotless  and  without  blemish.  When  we  lay  a  loved  one  in 
the  ground  let  us  think  that  it  is  only  another  member  entered 
into  Christ,  perfected,  finished,  satisfied,  complete.  We  are 
now  in  Christ  Jesus  judicially  perfect,  or,  as  St.  Paul  says 
(Col.  ii.  10),  we  are  "  complete  in  him  "  ;  and  as  we  read  in  He- 
brews (x.  14),  "  By  one  offering  he  hath  perfected  forever  them 
that  are  being  sanctified."  It  took  the  Son  four  thousand  years 
to  be  perfected.  Four  times  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
we  read  of  Christ  Jesus  being  perfected  as  the  Captain  of  our 
salvation.  We  are  now  being  taken,  and  are  made  judicially  per- 
fect in  him,  but  we  must  be  perfected  by  the  Holy  Ghost  until 
every  member,  every  muscle,  every  joint  of  the  body  of  the 
Lord's  bride  is  complete.  Then  one  day  this  earth's  thousands 
of  years*  toil  shall  cease,  the  millennium  will  come,  and  there 
will  be  a  seventh  day,  a  Sabbath ;  not  a  perfect  day  yet,  for 
the  eighth  day  is  the  perfect  day.  The  seventh  day  is  incom- 
plete ;  it  will  be  a  revelation  of  God's  glory  to  some  degree, 
but  there  will  be  a  final  eighth  day  of  glory,  and  the  rest-day 
of  the  millennium  will  only  be  like  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 

The  difference  between  the  Sabbath  of  the  Jew  and  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Christian  is  that  the  Sabbath  of  the  Jew  comes 
after  six  days  of  labor— he  rests  from  his  past  labors ;  but  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Christian  comes  at  the  beginning  of  the  week, 
and  is  a  preparation  for  labor.  This  is  the  reason  why  Christ 
apparently  did  away  with  the  old  Sabbath.  He  seemed  to 
take  a  certain  satisfaction  in  destroying  the  old  Jewish  idea  of 
the  Sabbath  day,  because  he  wanted  the  people  to  see  that 
there  was  a  better  rest  than  the  physical  rest.  Do  not  ima- 
gine, however,  that  you  can  work  on  day  after  day  without  a 
Sabbath.  We  need  a  Sabbath  of  rest  that  we  may  be  fresh 
for  the  coming  week,  but  we  do  not  take  our  rest  after  toil; 
what  we  need  is  a  rest  to  prepare  for  work.  We  are  told  in 
the  Psalms  that  man  has  gone  forth  to  his  labor.     Yes,  be- 


156  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

cause  he  is  man ;  but  as  far  as  a  man  has  Christ  he  has  done 
with  labor  and  has  begun  to  carry  out  the  work  of  God  the 
Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Notice  that  in  creation  by  Elohim  there  was  but  one  tem- 
ple— it  was  all  earth;  all  earth  worshiped  God.  Then  wor- 
ship ceased,  in  the  best  sense,  because  of  sin,  and  for  a  time 
God  deigned  to  manifest  himself  in  a  temple  made  with  hands. 
The  second  creation,  Christ  Jesus,  came  and  spoke  of  another 
temple— the  temple  of  his  body  (John  ii.  19).  At  that  time 
the  only  temple  of  God  was  in  Christ.  The  creation  of  the 
new  Man  was  finished,  and  Christ  went  back  to  heaven. 
Now  there  is  a  third  creation  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  is,  the 
church.  Now  where  is  the  temple?  St.  Paul  writes  to  the 
Corinthians,  "  Ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God  "  (2  Cor.  vi. 
16).  God  has  one  temple — not  temples;  there  is  not  a  plural 
to  the  word  temple  to  be  found  in  the  Bible.  There  are  many 
congregations,  but  there  is  only  one  temple,  and  we  are  being 
built,  as  Hving  stones,  into  a  holy  temple  of  God,  eternal  in 
the  heavens. 

As  God  worked  in  the  original  creation  upward,  so  in  the 
new  creation  he  works  downward.  In  Christ  Jesus  the  trans- 
formation began  with  his  spirit,  it  ended  with  his  sanctified 
body ;  he  rose  from  the  dead  to  find  a  finished  work.  What 
is  happening  now?  The  Holy  Ghost  begins  to  work  out  the 
new  creation  in  the  spirit  of  man  ;  he  works  outward  upon  the 
soul  of  man— his  will,  his  mind ;  he  will  work  at  last  upon  the 
body.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  body  has  yet  been  redeemed 
at  all ;  therefore  when  people  talk  of  having  no  illness  they  do 
not  seem  to  me  to  understand  the  Bible.  There  is  sickness, 
there  is  death,  there  is  corruption  of  the  body ;  but,  blessed  be 
God,  we  are  "  wai-ting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption 
of  our  body."  There  will  come  a  day  when  the  millennium 
is  over,  the  last  day  of  trouble,  the  last  day  of  trial,  a  day  of 
mercy  and  blessing. 


THE  REST  OF  GOD  157 

Moreover,  we  read  in  Revelation  (xxi.  5)  that  "  he  that  sat 
upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."  The  risen 
Man,  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  risen  men,  the  sons  of  God, 
stand  out  in  all  their  perfection,  and  a  new  creation  springs 
into  existence  at  the  word  of  God.  I  see  "  no  temple  therein, 
for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of 
it" — there  is  once  more  one  temple  throughout  all  creation. 

Brethren,  we  who  have  believed  do  enter  into  rest,  having 
such  a  promise  ;  and  I  beseech  you  take  care,  fear  lest — there 
is  no  need  for  fear  o/now,  for  fear  of  is  done  away — fear  lest 
any  of  you  should  seem  to  come  short  of  it.  Beloved,  this  is 
a  great  truth.  Now  look  up  and  say,  "  Is  this  possible?  By 
God's  grace  I  will  enter  into  this  rest  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord." 


THE    PEACE    OF   CHRIST 


"  And  let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your  hearts,*  to  the  which  also  ye 
are  called  in  one  body;  and  be  ye  thankful." — CoLOSSiANS  III.  15. 

THIS  is  the  last  one  of  the  first  three  graces  spoken  of  by 
St. Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (v.  22)  as  the  fruit 
of  the  Spirit— love,  joy,  peace— the  love  of  God  the  Father, 
wrought  in  us  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  joy  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
his  own  joy,  wrought  in  us  again  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  the 
peace  of  Christ— a  wonderfully  blessed  thought.  God's  teach- 
ing in  regard  to  this  Hfe  of  privilege  is  not  peculiar  to  one  book 
or  one  page  in  God's  Word ;  it  pervades  every  part  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  man  who  is  rightly  instructed  in  the  things  of  the  king- 
dom cannot  fail  to  find  it  there.  The  amazing  thing  is  that  any 
one  could  walk  with  Jesus  and  yet  fail  to  see  this  wonderful 
truth.  But  as  the  Lord  graciously  expounded  the  Scriptures 
to  the  disciples  walking  to  Emmaus,  and  opened  the  eyes  of 
their  understanding,  and  was  made  known  to  them  in  the 
breaking  of  the  bread,  so  he  will  instruct  us,  and  will  bring  us 
to  know  him  in  his  resurrection  power,  and  will  give  us  his 
blessing  and  his  peace.    If  Jesus  Christ  has  been  discerned  by 

*  This  is  a  very  pregnant  command,  whether  we  take  the  words  as  given 
in  the  Authorized  Version,  "  Let  the  peace  of  God  rule  in  your  hearts," 
or  as  they  are  more  correctly  given  in  the  Revised  Version,  according  to 
the  best  Greek  manuscripts,  "Let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your 
hearts." 

158 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  159 

you,  the  highest  privilege  of  your  life  will  be  to  go  and  make 
him  known  to  others  in  all  his  fullness. 

It  is  most  difficult  to  define  or  explain  any  one  of  the  ab- 
stract terms  that  are  used  for  the  graces  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Did  you  ever  try  to  explain  to  a  child  the  meaning  of  any  one 
of  those  elementary  requirements  which  God  demands  of  us  in 
response  to  his  blessing?  Attempt,  for  instance,  to  tell  any  one 
what  is  meant  by  faith.  When  you  turn  to  the  only  definition 
given,  namely,  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
Hebrews,  you  find  that  though  it  is  given  by  God  himself  it  is 
really  almost  more  confounding  than  explanatory  to  an  unen- 
lightened mind.  The  soul  untutored  by  God  cannot  grasp  the 
meaning  of  the  words  that  "faith  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  Any  of  those 
beautiful  graces  wrought  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  described  as 
his  fruit— love,  joy,  peace— cannot  definitely  be  explained  so 
as  to  satisfy  the  mind  and  the  heart  at  the  same  time.  If  we 
speak  negatively  of  the  peace  that  men  desire  we  get  a  better 
understanding  of  what  is  meant— no  strife,  no  bitterness,  no 
fret,  no  fear,  no  folly.  Beloved,  is  not  that  the  blessing  which 
you  long  for— to  get  out  of  these  terrible  failures,  folUes,  and 
falls  that  have  been  marring  your  past?  Then  come  into  the 
peace  of  Christ,  wherein  you  shall  be  kept  by  the  power  of 
God,  and  let  it  rule  in  your  hearts. 

What  is  meant  by  the  peace  of  Christ?  It  means  that  peace 
which  he  is  (Eph.  ii,  14);  that  peace  which  he  made  by  the 
blood  of  the  cross  (Eph.  ii.  15) ;  that  peace  which  he  came  to 
preach  (Eph.  ii.  17) ;  that  peace  of  which  he  said,  "  My  peace 
I  give  unto  you  (John  xiv.  27);  that  perfect,  uninterrupted 
peace  which  he  himself  enjoyed  all  through  a  life  of  the  great- 
est struggle,  through  peril  and  difficulty  and  opposition— the 
peace  of  Christ.  We  must  acknowledge  at  the  outset  that  this 
peace  is  something  far  above  our  natural  reach.  It  is  im- 
possible for  any  one  to  attain  to  it  by  any  effort,  struggle, 


i6o  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

labor,  or  personal  work ;  we  are  simply  "  called  "  by  God  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  let  it  rule.  When  it  seems  too  magnificent  to 
be  possible  we  are  to  force  our  hearts  to  a  realization  of  the 
possibility  by  saying,  "  to  the  which  also  ye  are  called."  We 
are  called  to  it,  therefore  it  must  be  possible. 

We  are  called  to  "let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule."  This  word 
rule  {(3pa(3eveT(x))  is  a  remarkable  w^ord,  for  it  occurs  in  the 
Scriptures  only  in  this  one  passage.  It  means  to  hold  lawful 
authority,  to  exercise  absolute  force,  so  that  authority  and 
force  are  combined  in  the  idea  of  actual  power,  which  is  to 
govern  and  hold  sway  over  every  faculty.  The  peace  of  Christ 
is  to  have  lawful  authority,  is  to  exercise  actual  force,  is  to 
govern  every  detail  of  your  life  and  your  being— your  heart, 
your  mind,  your  soul,  your  spirit,  your  body.  The  peace  of 
Christ  is  to  rule  in  our  hearts— that  which  is  most  likely  to  fail 
us.  "  My  flesh  and  my  heart  f  aileth  :  but  God  is  the  strength  of 
my  heart,  and  my  portion  forever,"  says  the  psalmist.  Is  your 
heart  quaking  or  troubled  or  sorrowful?  It  need  never  be 
troubled  again,  in  the  dark  sense  of  the  word.  Of  course  there 
is  sorrow  in  this  life,  of  course  there  is  pain  and  there  is  sick- 
ness unto  death,  of  course  there  is  affliction  and  weariness ;  all 
these  there  must  be,  because  we  are  mortal ;  but  there  need  not 
be  troubled  hearts,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  himself  says,  "  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled  :  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me." 
Then  he  goes  on  to  speak  of  working  power,  of  comforting 
power,  of  peace  power— "These  things  I  have  spoken  unto 
you,  that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace.  In  the  world  ye  shall 
have  tribulation :  but  be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have  overcome  the 
world."  "  Now,"  says  the  Apostle,  as  a  summary  of  his  whole 
argument,  "let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your  hearts." 

Have  you  ever  taken  time  to  consider  what  happens  if  the 
peace  of  Christ  rules  in  a  heart?  What  is  the  uninterrupted 
relation  of  such  a  heart  to  God?  There  comes,  first,  peace 
with  regard  to  sin,  as  St.  Paul  says  (Rom.  v.  i) :  "Therefore 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  i6i 

being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  We  need  never  know  what  it  is  to  be 
afraid  of  judgment,  afraid  of  God's  indignation,  afraid  of  the 
penalties  and  pains  of  sin  ;  never  know  what  it  is  to  be  harassed 
about  our  sins,  however  guilty  we  may  be ;  for  trusting  in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  we  recognize  that  moment  by  moment  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  is  perpetually  cleansing  us  from  all  sin. 

We  have  peace,  again,  with  regard  to  God  when  we  look  up 
into  his  face  and  wonder,  "  How  can  he  dwell  with  a  poor 
wretch  like  me  ?  "  Then  we  grasp  the  thought,  "  Thou  wilt 
keep  him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee :  be- 
cause he  trusteth  in  thee"  (Isa.  xxvi.  3).  It  gives  us  unceas- 
ing calm  in  oiur  relation  to  God,  because  we  recognize  that  we 
are  accepted  in  the  Beloved.  Therefore,  if  I  am  kept  in  the 
peace  of  Christ,  I  can  look  up  into  God's  face  with  as  great 
calmness  as  Jesus  Christ  can  ; 

**  For  in  the  person  of  his  Son  I  am  as  near  as  he." 

Is  that  true  in  your  experience? 

Again,  if  Christ's  peace  rules  in  our  hearts,  what  is  our  rela- 
tion to  the  world— in  our  business,  our  home  and  our  family 
troubles?  "As  far  as  Heth  in  you,  live  peaceably  with  all 
men,"  says  St.  Paul.  Men  and  women  often  say,  "I  have 
tried  my  best,  and  I  really  must  quarrel  with  him,  for  he  is  so 
provoking."  A  lady  came  to  me  one  day  in  great  grief  and 
anxiety  about  her  soul ;  she  wished  very  earnestly,  she  said,  to 
be  a  Christian.  I  began  questioning  her  to  find  out  where  the 
failure  lay,  and  at  last  I  learned  that  she  was  fretful  and  fidgety 
and  was  constantly  losing  her  temper  at  home.  I  began  to 
show  her  that  to  be  fretful  and  angry  was  as  bad  as  to  be  curs- 
ing another,  and  that  to  let  her  anger  rise  against  God  or  man 
was  in  a  sense  to  be  guilty  of  murder.  She  looked  at  me  and 
said,  "  O  Mr.  Peploe,  I  do  assure  you  that  there  is  no  fault 
whatever  in  my  case,  because  I  never,  never  lose  my  temper 


i62  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

unless  I  am  provoked— never."  No,  and  I  do  not  think  the 
devil  does!  Let  us  remember  this:  that  to  lose  our  temper 
when  we  are  provoked  shows  that  we  are  out  of  communion 
with  our  blessed  Lord,  and  if  the  peace  of  Christ  ruled  in  our 
hearts  we  could  never  again  be  provoked.  Blessed  thought!  I 
cannot  fully  take  it  in.  Moses  was  the  meekest  man  that  ever 
trod  the  earth,  and  yet  he  was  so  provoked  that  he  spoke  un- 
advisedly with  his  lips.  Can  I  hope  to  be  better  than  Moses? 
Blessed  be  God,  I  can,  because  Moses  had  not  the  risen  and 
hving  Christ  to  dwell  in  his  heart  and  to  abide  in  him. 

Are  you  looking  at  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  or  forty  years 
and  saying,  "  Look  at  that  record— one  great  mass  of  vile 
stuff ;  it  is  enough  to  disgust  a  man  with  life.  I  cannot  hope 
for  anything  better"  ?  Can  you  not?  That  accumulated 
mass  of  thirty  or  sixty  years  is  put  before  your  eyes  by  the 
devil.  But  you  need  not  consider  your  power  to  hve  for  thirty 
years ;  you  have  to  live  only  one  moment  at  a  time.  Can 
Christ  keep  you  this  moment  in  a  good  temper  and  in  purity? 
Then  he  can  keep  you  the  next  moment  and  the  next.  Again 
and  again  I  have  to  ask  that  silly  question.  How  many  steps 
do  you  take  at  a  time  as  you  walk  down  the  street?  One. 
Now  the  Lord  can  keep  that  one  and  the  next  one  and  the 
next.  Why  did  Jesus  say,  "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread  "  ? 
Because  to-morrow  will  take  care  of  itself,  and  it  becomes  to- 
day as  soon  as  it  arrives.  Do  not  fret  about  to-morrow,  but 
ask  yourself,  "  Can  Christ  keep  me  in  perfect  peace  with  God 
this  moment?  Can  he  keep  me  in  perfect  peace  with  my 
neighbors?  "  He  can  keep  us  now,  therefore  he  can  keep  us 
forever. 

Look  at  the  trials  and  troubles  that  come  upon  us— trials 
such  as  Christ  himself  had  to  bear  because  of  his  rebuking  the 
sins  and  the  dark  transactions  of  the  people  around  him ;  the 
very  spitting  in  the  face  may  not  actually  be  done,  but  it  is 
being  mentally  done  to  some  of  us  every  day  of  our  Hves.  Even 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  163 

in  these  things  let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  and  there  will  not 
be  a  shadow  of  fret,  any  more  than  there  was  with  Jesus.  We 
look  at  death  and  think  of  parting  from  our  loved  ones,  of  all 
of  the  unknown  beyond,  and  what  may  happen  to  those  who 
are  left  behind,  and  we  say,  "  Is  it  possible  that  the  peace  of 
Christ  can  rule  while  I  lie  on  my  death-bed  in  agonized  pain 
of  body,  perhaps,  and  while  I  part  from  those  I  love?  "  "  Let 
the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also  ye 
are  called."     Such  may  be  your  life. 

There  is  something  wonderful  in  this ;  but  is  it  possible  under 
the  circumstances  in  which  we  live?  You  cannot  possibly  be- 
lieve that  God  has  traced  all  these  blessed  privileges  in  his 
Word  for  nothing.  You  know  that  they  are  not  meant  to 
apply  to  heaven,  because  there  no  shadow  of  trouble  or  tempta- 
tion will  cross  our  path.  No,  Christ's  own  peace— his  enjoyment 
of  peace  with  God  and  his  loving  peace  toward  his  fellow-men 
—is  meant  to  be  ruling  with  perpetual  power  in  our  hearts  every 
day,  every  hour,  every  moment  of  our  hfe.  Of  course  there 
must  be  some  connection  between  the  beautiful  theory  and  the 
experimental  enjoyment  of  it ;  and  we  must  translate  into  the 
experimental  whatever  is  offered  to  us  as  judicial  or  doctrinal 
truth  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  our  instructor  and 
enabler  in  everything. 

Now,  if  we  understand  what  the  Apostle  means  by  this  in- 
junction, it  becomes  necessary  for  us  to  examine  the  whole  of 
his  argument  which  has  preceded  this  injunction,  and  up  to 
which  he  has  led  us.  First,  if  this  life  of  love,  joy,  and  peace 
is  to  be  known  experimentally  by  us  amid  the  difficulties  of  the 
home  and  the  duties  and  the  dangers  of  business  and  social 
life,  we  must  recognize  that  it  all  depends  upon  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord  himself  as  a  person.  We  are  often  asked,  "  What 
do  you  believe— what  is  your  faith?  "  Our  answer  should  be, 
"  The  question  with  you  and  me  is  not  what  I  believe,  but  it 
is  in  whom  I  beheve.    '  I  know  whom  I  have  beUeved.'    I  have 


1 64  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

a  personal  knowledge  of  the  Person  in  whom  I  believe,  and  I 
do  not  believe  in  //."  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  "  its  "  as 
Christians.  We  are  taken  out  of  the  dead  sphere  into  the  Hving, 
and  are  called  to  deal  with  a  personal  Saviour.  Christians 
should  never  say,  *'  I  went  to  the  convention  and  I  got  //,"  as 
if  //  were  a  blessing  apart  from  Christ.  The  blessing  is  con- 
nected with  Christ ;  more  than  that,  it  is  Christ  himself. 

St.  Paul  begins  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  by  saying  that 
he  writes  to  "the  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in  Christ,"  in 
whom,  he  says  further  on,  we  have  received  all  these  blessings. 
From  the  sixteenth  verse  of  the  first  chapter  to  the  end  of  the 
twentieth  verse  St.  Paul  propounds  a  general  principle  concern- 
ing the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  shows  how  mighty,  how  power- 
ful, how  wonderful  he  is.  No  less  than  twelve  times  in  those 
five  verses  does  St.  Paul  mention  the  person  of  Christ,  to  show 
that  Jesus  is  the  creator  of  all  things,  the  upholder  of  all  things, 
the  head  of  the  church  in  all  things,  the  fullness  of  God's  power 
in  all  things,  and  the  keeper  of  all  things.  Christ  is  all,  and  in 
all,  in  that  passage. 

But  that  is  not  sufficient.  The  Apostle  goes  on  to  say 
(verse  27)  that  there  is  a  further  blessing  to  be  had,  which  is 
called  "  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  ;  .  .  .  which  is 
Christ  in  you."  He  tells  us  that  we  are  in  Christ.  That  gives 
us  position,  it  gives  us  security,  it  gives  us  peace  with  God,  it 
gives  us  power  in  the  presence  of  God,  it  takes  us  into  the 
heavenly  sphere,  and  everything  that  is  wanted  in  the  heavenly 
sphere  is  found  by  our  being  in  Christ.  But  we  are  down  here 
on  the  earth  as  well,  and  St.  Paul  knows  that  we  need  some- 
thing for  this  sphere  also.  For  the  heavenly  sphere  the  mystery 
of  the  gospel  is  "  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory  " ;  but  the 
Apostle  proceeds  to  say  (verse  28),  "That  we  may  present 
every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus :  .  .  .  according  to  his 
working,  which  worketh  in  me  mightily."  And  in  the  sixth 
verse  of  the  second  chapter  he  says,  "As  ye  have  therefore 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  165 

received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye  in  him:  rooted 
and  built  up  in  him."  Then  in  the  tenth  verse  of  the  second 
chapter  he  says,  "Ye  are  complete  in  him." 

Up  to  this  point  all  this  is  judicial.  St.  Paul  carries  us  a  step 
further  by  saying  that  Jesus  has  died  and  risen— and  what  has 
happened  ?  So  you  died  and  you  rose  with  Christ,  and  there- 
fore (iii.  3)  ''your  hfe  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  There  is 
one  step  further  (iii.  1 1)— when  we  come  to  the  fullness  of  the 
understanding  of  our  state  and  privileges,  then  "  Christ  is  all, 
and  in  all."  Here  we  have  the  starting-point  in  the  life  of 
peace.  If  you  wish  the  peace  of  Christ  to  rule  in  your  heart 
you  must  be  in  Christ,  you  must  have  Christ  in  you,  you  must 
understand  that  Christ  makes  you  complete  before  God,  and 
that,  to  your  soul's  experience,  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all.  Verily 
our  creed  is  one :  Christ,  Christ,  Christ.  You  remember  the 
dear  old  martyr  in  England,  in  the  days  of  the  bloody  Mary, 
who,  as  he  went  toward  Newgate  to  be  burned  with  fire,  was 
enabled  to  turn  toward  the  people  and  say,  "  Christ,  Ch.  ist, 
brethren,  none  but  Christ."  We  must  put  away  our  old 
creeds,  put  away  our  old  dignities,  put  away  our  old  claims  to 
prominence  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  lay  hold  on  this  one 
truth — one  only — that  our  faith  and  our  power  are  not  in  a 
thing,  but  in  a  person,  Christ,  Christ  forever. 

But  St.  Paul  would  have  us  turn  the  judicial  and  the  doc- 
trinal into  the  experimental.  Before  the  peace  of  Christ  can 
rule  in  our  hearts  we  must  understand  what  blessings  are  in- 
tended to  be  brought  to  us  in  and  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  Apostle  here  grandly  describes  our  position.  He  says,  first 
of  all  (ii.  20),  that  we  died  with  Christ,  and  are  therefore  dead 
with  Christ  (iii.  3)— that  is  judicial.  Next  he  says  (ii.  12)  that 
we  are  buried  with  Christ;  then  (iii.  i)  that  we  are  risen  with 
Christ.  Dead,  buried,  risen  with  Christ  !  Furthermore  (iii.  i), 
we  shall  sit  with  Christ  in  heavenly  places  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  for  if  we  died  with  Christ  and  rose  with  him,  our  hfe 


1 66  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

is  hid  with  Christ  in  God  (iii.  3).  Dead  with  Christ ;  buried 
with  Christ  in  baptism!  I  wonder  how  much  you  compre- 
hended of  what  your  baptism  signified,  what  it  ought  to  have 
been.  It  is  a  blessed  thing  to  be  truly  baptized,  because  our 
baptism  is  the  burial  service  of  the  "  old  man."  What  business, 
then,  have  we  unearthing  a  stinking  corpse?  Leave  the  old 
nature  where  it  was ;  place  it  on  the  cross ;  bury  it  with  Christ. 
You  are  buried  and  risen  with  Christ;  you  are  seated  with 
Christ  in  heavenly  places. 

These  principles,  says  St.  Paul,  are  to  be  turned  by  us  into 
practice,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  working  in  us. 
Notice  how  this  is  to  be  accompHshed.  If  I  died  with  Christ, 
what  is  he  supposed  to  have  done  with  my  "  old  man,"  in 
whose  ways  I  walked  when  I  lived  the  old  life  ?  That  old 
man,  my  old  life,  my  old  ideas,  all  connected  with  the  old 
existence,  is  taken  to  the  place  of  death,  and  is  supposed  to 
have  been  disposed  of  through  the  action  of  death,  because 
death  renders  a  thing  powerless  and  places  it  in  a  position 
where  action  is  impossible.  Therefore,  when  I  died  with 
Christ,  my  old  nature  was  supposed  to  have  been  placed  in  a 
condition  as  well  as  in  a  position  of  death. 

Now  look  at  the  experimental  side  of  this  truth.  St.  Paul  says, 
"  Ye  are  dead  "  (iii.  3) ;  and  he  proceeds,  "  Mortify  therefore." 
You  died,  now  put  it  to  death.  Brethren,  we  have  an  awful 
prerogative.  Notice  three  particular  processes  which  we  must 
carry  out  to  make  this  life  experimental,  and  without  which  the 
peace  of  Christ  will  never  rule  in  our  hearts.  First,  because  I 
am  dead  I  must  make  dead— no,  I  am  not  dead ;  I  am  sup- 
posed to  have  died,  and  there  is  the  difference.  Many  people 
talk  about  Christians  as  being  actually  dead,  because  Christ 
died,  but  it  is  not  so ;  judicially  I  died,  therefore  it  is  my  place 
to  put  into  practice  in  my  experience  what  Jesus  Christ  accom- 
phshed  for  me.  "  Mortify  therefore  your  members."  What 
are  your  members?     "  Fornication,  uncleanness,  inordinate 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  167 

affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and  covetousness,  which  is 
idolatry."  Brethren,  be  very  honest  in  dealing  with  this 
matter.  I  wish  you  would  bring  up  before  your  own  eyes, 
write  them  down  upon  paper,  what  the  things  of  the  flesh  are 
which  bring  you  into  captivity  again  and  again.  What  is  your 
great  temptation?  Is  it  your  lust?  Then  confess  it.  Get 
down  on  your  knees  and  write  down  solemnly  before  God  what 
is  your  besetting  sin.  Is  it  laziness,  covetousness,  selfishness, 
evil  desires  and  tastes?  Let  God  tell  you  your  sins.  An  awful 
responsibility  lies  with  each  of  us  of  making  dead  practically 
by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  what  Christ  made  dead  judi- 
cially for  us. 

Go  back  to  the  awful  time  in  the  history  of  Israel  when 
Achan  brought  shame  upon  the  camp  because  he  was  covetous 
and  took  that  wedge  of  gold  and  that  garment  and  hid  them 
in  his  tent.  When  the  Lord  convicted  him  of  the  sin  before 
the  whole  nation  he  had  to  be  brought  out  and  stoned  before 
them  all,  and  his  body  was  covered  with  that  great  mass  of 
stones.  The  valley  of  Achor  became  "  the  door  of  hope  " 
(Hosea  ii.  15)  for  better  things,  for  more  victories— the  only 
door  of  hope  that  any  one  could  know.  When  God  wishes  to 
comfort  Israel  he  says,  through  the  prophet  Hosea,  that  he  will 
take  them  into  the  valley  of  Achor,  that  they  may  stone  unto 
death  the  beastly  things.  We  are  ashamed  of  them,  are  we 
not?  You  would  be  ashamed  to  speak  of  the  jealousy  which 
you  felt  because  your  reputation  was  not  as  good  as  your 
neighbor's,  or  of  the  lust  that  was  a  disgrace  to  your  manhood, 
or  of  the  inordinate  affection  or  evil  concupiscence  that  has 
been  dragging  you  down.  Brethren,  curse  it;  give  it  to  the 
grave ;  stone  it.  It  must  be  done.  What  must  you  do?  Does 
not  Jesus  say  that  it  is  better  for  you  to  pluck  out  your  right 
eye,  or  to  cut  off  your  right  hand,  than  that  your  whole  body 
should  be  cast  into  hell  ?  Mortify,  put  to  death,  or,  as  St.  Paul 
says  to  the  Romans,  "  Reckon  yourselves  to  be  corpses."   He 


1 68  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

is  speaking  there  about  the  obhgation  of  reckoning  by  faith, 
and,  coming  to  the  practical,  he  says,  "I  have  told  you  to 
reckon.  Did  you  die  with  Christ  ?  You  must  make  that 
death  real."  This  is  no  sweet  and  easy  process  ;  it  is  a  rough- 
and-ready  work  which  we  must  do,  as  lynching  is  rough-and- 
ready  justice.  My  brother,  lynch  your  passions  without  de- 
lay ;  do  it  once  for  all.  They  are  like  weeds,  and  will  rise  up 
if  they  can.  There  are  terrible  tap-roots  to  these  passions  of 
ours.  We  may  cut  off  the  top,  and  may  pull  and  pull,  and 
think  that  we  have  them  all  out,  but  within  a  few  weeks  they 
cover  the  land  again.  You  may  never  pull  up  all  the  roots, 
but  your  purpose,  your  deteiTaination,  your  action  henceforth 
must  be :  "By  the  grace  of  God  I  will  put  to  death,  I  will  stone, 
the  evil  passions."  You  may  have  to  do  it  openly,  before  the 
camp,  perhaps.  Achan  had  no  quiet,  retired  hole  in  which  he 
could  be  buried  comfortably  without  the  public  hearing  of  it. 
His  sin  has  been  on  record  for  three  thousand  years  and  more. 
I  have  known  men  who  have  had  to  lose  all  their  character  to 
win  their  souls.  It  is,  indeed,  a  solemn  process,  and  you  will 
not  enjoy  it.  How  could  you  enjoy  it?  There  is  some 
downright  damnable  thing  in  most  men  who  call  themselves 
Christians,  and  they  are  hugging  and  cherishing  it ;  but  the 
Lord  knows  where  it  is,  and  he  points  it  out.  My  brother, 
what  have  you  in  your  tent?  Out  with  it;  let  it  be  cursed; 
be  a  man  and  stone  it,  and  that  act  will  be  the  door  of  hope 
to  you.  If  we  are  to  be  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  in 
heavenly  places  we  must  get  rid  of  the  earthly,  or  the  peace 
of  Christ  can  never  rule. 

St.  Paul  says  in  the  second  place,  "  Ye  have  put  off  the  old 
man  with  his  deeds"  (Col.  iii.  9),  and  in  the  eighth  verse, 
"  Now  ye  also  put  off  "—you  have  put  off,  therefore  put  off. 
You  say  these  things  are  anachronisms ;  they  are  paradoxes ; 
they  are  seeming  contradictions.  Beloved,  it  would  be  very 
easy  to  sail  into  heaven  in  a  sort  of  Venetian  gondola,  ghding 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  169 

smoothly  down  the  waters  without  a  single  jar  or  fret,  because 
Christ  has  done  everything.  I  have  heard  of  a  kind  of  cart 
which  is  made  for  traveling  over  new  roads.  It  has  to  go 
bumping  along  through  the  CaHfornian  hills  in  an  amazing 
manner,  because  the  roads  are  rough  and  the  difficulties  are 
great.  The  men  and  women  who  hope  to  go  to  heaven  in  a 
gondola  will  have  to  ride  in  one  of  those  rough-and-tumble 
wagons  before  they  reach  their  journey's  end. 

What  is  this  "  old  man  "  which  we  must  put  off?  We  have 
buried  him  in  baptism,  but  here  he  is,  like  a  jack-in-the-box, 
always  jumping  up  on  the  slightest  provocation.  The  Apostle 
Paul  says  that  we  are  to  put  off  the  old  man,  and  he  says, 
"  Now  ye  also  put  off  all  these :  anger,  wrath,  malice." 
"What!    I  may  not   indulge    in   just   a   little    spite   against 

Mrs. ?  "     "  Not  one  shadow  of  ill  will  for  the  man  who 

did  me  that  great  wrong,  who  defamed  my  character  so  un- 
charitably? "  "  Put  off  anger,  wrath,  mahce,  blasphemy.  Lie 
not  one  to  another."  The  Apostle  Paul  is  very  hard  on  us — 
very  hard  indeed.  "  May  I  not  tell  a  little  society  he?  May 
I  not  say  'Not  at  home'  when  I  am?"  No.  "But  all  so- 
ciety does."  I  do  not  care  for  all  the  society  of  Europe  or 
America.  Brethren,  to  be  practical,  would  God  say  "  Not  at 
home  "  if  he  were?  If  so,  then  you  will  not  have  much  chance 
of  blessing  when  you  go  to  him  with  yoiu"  prayers ;  you  may 
cry  in  vain,  if  he  is  "  not  at  home  "  to  a  har.  But  he  is  at 
home ;  he  is  always  waiting,  and  he  says,  "  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye."  We  must  learn  to  be  true,  for  God  requires  truth  in  the 
inward  parts ;  we  have  put  off  the  old  man  in  theory,  we  must 
now  put  him  off  in  practice— put  off  the  old  man  Dignity,  the 
old  man  Reputation,  the  old  man  Honor-among-men.  These 
things  are  very  practical,  and  when  St.  Paul  says  that  when  we 
died  with  Christ  we  put  off  the  old  man  with  Christ,  he  still 
has  to  say,  "  Put  the  old  man  to  death,"  and  "  Put  off  the  old 
man,"  because  we  have  put  him  off  judicially  in  Christ  Jesus. 


170  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

This  involves  first  our  walk,  that  was  mortified,  and  then  our 
talk,  that  is  put  off. 

Now,  thirdly,  St.  Paul  says,  "  Ye  have  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of  him  that 
created  him.  .  .  .  Put  on  therefore."  You  did  put  on,  now 
put  on.  You  did  put  off,  now  put  off.  You  did  die,  now  die. 
Everybody  is  to  see  how  far  the  doctrinal  has  become  the  ex- 
perimental in  our  lives.  God  says  that  what  he  had  for  us  in 
Christ  Jesus  we  must  take  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"Ye  have  put  on  the  new  man."  What  a  glorious  thought 
that  Christ  is  the  new  Man  and  is  sufficient  for  us  in  every- 
thing! Yet  he  is  not  bidding  us  be  hke  him  now;  he  is  bid- 
ding us  put  on  his  nature  experimentally,  moment  by  moment. 
Christ  is  all,  and  in  all ;  let  him  be  put  on  and  cover  every- 
thing ;  let  him  meet  every  need,  let  him  guard  every  circum- 
stance. What  he  did  for  me  in  dying  and  rising  and  taking 
his  place  at  God's  right  hand,  he  is  to  do  for  me  and  around 
me  and  over  me  in  and  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  am  to  put  on 
the  new  man  because  I  put  Christ  on,  and  as  I  put  on  the  new 
man  I  am  to  put  on— what?  "  As  the  elect  of  God,  holy  and 
beloved,  put  on  bowels  of  mercies,  kindness,  humbleness  of 
mind,  meekness,  long-suffering;  forbearing  one  another,  and 
forgiving  one  another,  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any : 
even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye.  And  above  all  these 
things  put  on  charity  [or  love],  which  is  the  bond  of  perfect- 
ness."  On  top  of  them  all— on  top  of  humility,  meekness,  for- 
giveness, tenderness,  forbearance,  and  patience— put  on  love ; 
love,  which  considers  the  good  of  others. 

Now  you  have  not  a  fret  with  man,  not  a  worry  in  your 
heart ;  you  have  cast  off  the  world  so  far  as  you  know  by  the 
grace  of  God,  and  have  put  away  those  passions  and  lusts  ;  you 
have  put  off  the  old  man  that  kept  you  in  such  thraldom,  and 
you  have  put  on  the  new  Man,  which  is  Christ  Jesus.  Now, 
then,  step  out  into  that  to  which  you  are  called.     What  is  it? 


THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST  i?! 

Peace— the  peace  of  Christ  in  this  dark  world  of  sin.  The 
blood  of  Jesus  whispers  peace,  and  I  step  out  in  that  peace  of 
God  and  realize  to  what  I  am  called.  Yet  "  many  are  called, 
but  few  chosen."  This  is  your  calling ;  for  God's  sake  ap- 
prehend it  and  "  walk  worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are 
called  "—called  to  holiness,  called  to  conformity,  called  to 
peace.     Oh,  let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your  hearts! 

But  Paul  says  that  we  are  called  to  this  peace  "  in  one  body." 
That  is  the  great  key-thought  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 
Paul  says  that  many  people  are  very  full  of  works— people  who 
deny  themselves  everything  that  they  can,  and  are  always  prac- 
tising humility,  but  who  have  never  been  vitally  joined  to  the 
Head.    In  this  one  epistle  the  "  body  "  is  mentioned  eight  times 
—three  times  in  the  first  chapter,  four  times  in  the  second,  and 
once  in  the  third.     Twice  it  refers  to  the  body  of  sin,  the  evil 
body,  but  the  other  six  times  refer  to  the  body  to  which  Chris- 
tians belong.    What  is  that  body  ?     St.  Paul  says  that  it  is  the 
body  of  Christ,  which  is  the  church  (i.  i8).     In  the  twenty- 
fourth  verse  he  says  that  we  must  bear  our  part  in  the  afflic- 
tions of  Christ  to  complete  the  body.     We  are  called  in  one 
body,  therefore  we  are  members  one  of  another.    Why  does  one 
member  hurt  or  annoy  another,  or  cause  another  to  fidget  and 
fret?     Among  Christians  that  ought  never  to  be.     Children, 
why  vex  your  parents  any  more  by  the  assertion  of  self-will  and 
by  the  manners  of  the  day,  which  often  make  home  a  curse  in- 
stead of  a  blessing?    No  reverence  and  no  respect— why?    Be- 
cause of  the  self-assertion  and  the  proclaiming  of  independence. 
Independence  indeed!      It  is  carried  much  too  far  when  the 
young  people  draw  off  and  refuse  obedience  to  those  who  are 
put  over  them.     There  ought  to  be  no  discord  in  the  home, 
because  we  are  all  called  to  be  one  body ;  and  if  I  wound  my 
father  or  my  mother  I  am  blighting  my  own  life,  for  I  am 
marring  the  body,  which  is  one. 

If  this  is  the  hfe  of  the  true  behever— peace,  perfect  peace, 


172  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

from  night  to  morning  and  from  morning  to  night,  in  body, 
soul,  and  spirit,  in  circumstances  of  trial  and  difficulty— do  you 
wonder  that  the  Apostle  Paul  closes  this  part  of  his  exhortation 
with  these  words :  "  And  be  ye  thankful  "  ?  That  is  such  a 
beautiful  thought  in  the  Greek.  This  is  the  only  place  where  we 
are  called  eucharists — evxdpiaroL.'^  We  are  called  to  live  the 
eucharistic  life,  one  blessed  sacrament  of  love,  joy,  peace,  and 
thanksgiving— for  that  is  what  eucharistmtscns,  a  life  of  thanks- 
giving. I  do  not  see  how  we  could  be  otherwise  than  thank- 
ful if  we  take  this  thought  into  our  hearts— peace,  peace,  never 
to  be  broken  again.  What  is  the  purpose  of  our  police?  To 
keep  the  peace  in  the  temporal  sphere.  What  does  the  blessed 
Lord  wish  to  do?  To  keep  the  peace  in  the  spiritual  sphere. 
My  brother,  will  you  let  him  into  your  heart  that  he  may  keep 
it?  Say  to  him  from  this  moment  what  a  poor  helpless  subject 
ought  to  say :  "  My  Lord  and  my  God."  Then  he  shall  rule 
in  the  midst  of  his  emenies,  until  they  are  all  put  under  his  feet ; 
and  when  he  has  brought  all  enemies  under  his  feet,  for  me  in- 
dividually, as  well  as  in  general,  collectively,  then  he  shall  give 
up  the  kingdom  to  God  the  Father,  so  that  while  now  Christ  is 
all,  and  in  all,  then  God  shall  be  all,  and  in  all. 

*  The  noun  is  used  in  Ephesians  iv.  5,  20,  but  that  is  not  a  parallel 
case. 


DELIVERANCE   AND   SERVICE 


"  That  God  would  grant  unto  us,  that  we,  being  delivered  out  of  the 
hand  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him  without  fear,  in  holiness  and 
righteousness  before  him,  all  the  days  of  our  life." — Luke  i.  74,  75. 

THE  times  when  God  in  his  infinite  mercy  has  brought  spe- 
cial blessings  to  a  part  of  the  human  race,  intending  that 
those  blessings  shall  spread  to  all  mankind,  have  always  been 
times  of  special  darkness  and  difficulty,  of  danger  and  sin,  for 
the  sons  of  men.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  time  of  Noah,  in 
the  times  of  Moses  and  of  David,  in  the  deliverance  from 
the  Babylonian  captivity,  at  the  birth  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  in 
the  days  of  the  Emperor  Constantine,  and  at  the  dawn  of  the 
Reformation  under  Luther.  Whenever  there  have  been  spe- 
cial outpourings  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  manifestations  of 
his  love  and  power  in  a  peculiar  manner,  it  has  seemed  to  be 
at  times  when  darkness  has  been  over  the  land,  and  gross  dark- 
ness over  the  people.  This  was  specially  true  at  the  birth  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  so  that  when  Zacharias,  the  father  of  John  the 
Baptist,  poured  out  the  magnificent  psalm  in  which  the  words 
of  our  text  occur,  it  would  have  been  said  by  any  observant 
spiritually  minded  man  that  the  whole  world  was  utterly  given 
over  to  corruption,  and  that  there  was,  humanly  speaking,  no 
hope  for  the  human  race. 

Some  of  us  are  inclined  to  think  that  gross  darkness  covers 
the  people  of  the  earth  at  the  present  time,  not  in  the  sense 

m 


174  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

in  which  the  gloom  of  ignorance,  superstition,  and  wickedness 
extended  over  mankind  when  our  Lord  Jesus  appeared  in  the 
flesh;  not,  perhaps,  as  it  covered  the  earth  in  the  days  of 
Luther ;  but,  combining  the  prominent  characteristics  of  those 
two  periods,  we  might  say  that  in  our  day  there  are  the  reflec- 
tions of  the  gross  darkness  of  hbertinism  and  of  the  darkness 
of  superstition.  The  pendulum  swings  from  one  to  the  other, 
and  those  who  are  free-thinkers  to-day  are  idolaters  to-mor- 
row, and  those  who  are  held  by  the  bonds  of  superstition  to- 
day often  pass  into  atheism  to-morrow. 

Now  are  we  to  be  discouraged  and  disheartened  so  as  to 
think  that  there  can  be  no  blessing  in  our  day,  because  corrup- 
tion is  visible  on  every  hand  and  because  people  flatly  refuse 
to  accept  the  gospel?  On  the  contrary,  these  dark  days  are 
the  very  times  when  God  deigns  to  bring  his  special  revelation 
of  Christ  to  the  world.  He  may  be  revealed  to  only  a  few  at 
first— to  one  here  like  Zacharias,  to  another  there  like  Anna  the 
prophetess,  and  to  another  like  the  aged  Simeon,  waiting  for 
the  Lord  to  appear  in  his  majesty  and  glory.  He  may  come 
in  his  fullness  to  only  a  few,  but  he  does  come.  He  came  to 
Moses,  to  Aaron,  and  to  Joshua;  he  came  to  David  and  to 
Solomon ;  he  came  to  the  people  who  were  looking  for  him 
when  he  was  bom  of  the  lowly  Virgin  Mary ;  he  came  in  the 
days  of  Constantine  and  manifested  himself  as  the  light  and 
liberty  of  the  gospel  among  the  Romans ;  he  came  in  the  days 
of  Luther ;  and  the  nineteenth  century  need  not  close  without 
a  magnificent  blessing  coming  to  a  hstening  people,  to  a  will- 
ing people,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  earth. 
Those  who  receive  this  blessed  revelation  may  not  be  able  to 
influence  many,  but  each  one  can  spread  the  light  a  httle, 
each  one  can  bring  some  others  to  Christ.  Instead  of  being 
disheartened  because  of  the  great  darkness  that  envelops  the 
mass  of  the  people,  this  is  the  very  time  for  us  to  expect  the 
blessing  of  the  Almighty  God  to  be  manifested.     Charles 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  i75 

Kingsley,  who  is  better  known  as  a  novelist  and  a  historian 
than  as  a  poet,  wrote  these  Hnes : 

**  The  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  at  hand, 
Its  storms  roll  up  the  sky ; 
But  the  nations  sleep,  starved  or  corpses  cold ; 

All  dreamers  toss  and  sigh. 
But  the  night  is  darkest  before  the  morn ; 
When  the  pain  is  sorest  the  child  is  born ; 
And  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand." 

God  grant  that  we  all  may  come  to  see  the  Horn  of  Salva- 
tion which  God  has  raised  up.  There  is  a  Horn  of  Salvation, 
and  he  is  becoming  manifest,  just  as  the  infant  Jesus  was  being 
revealed  when  Zacharias  uttered  his  psalm.  Jesus  is  coming 
—the  Hving  Jesus ;  and  the  aged  Simeon,  however  aged,  may 
live  to  see  him  and  to  say,  "  Lord,  now  thou  art  letting  [as  the 
Greek  reads]  thy  servant  depart  in  peace ;  for  mine  eyes  have 
seen  thy  salvation."  Remember  that  salvation  has  come  that 
it  may  be  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  to  be  the  glory  of 
God's  people  Israel.  Zacharias  might  be  called  the  prophet, 
the  sweet  singer,  who  sang  the  dying  song  of  the  old  Judaic 
dispensation,  and  at  the  same  time  the  morning  bird  that 
ushered  in  the  coming  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  liberty.  His 
words  were  meant  to  apply  first  to  Israel  after  the  flesh  and 
then  to  the  boundless  Israel  which  comprises  the  whole  fam- 
ily of  the  faith. 

There  is  a  rationalistic  school  in  the  present  day  which  in- 
terprets this  song  of  Zacharias  as  referring  only  to  the  things 
that  were  temporal.  They  scruple  not  to  say  that  the  enemies 
out  of  whose  hands  these  people  were  meant  to  be  dehvered 
were  the  Romans  and  any  other  enemies  that  might  have  been 
attacking  Israel.  But,  in  the  first  place,  what  would  any 
physical  deliverance  of  Israel  from  the  hands  of  the  Roman 
authorities  be  calculated  to  do  toward  bringing  about  true 
hoHness  and  righteousness?    In  the  second  place,  would  it  be 


176  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

at  all  probable  that  Zacharias  would  speak  only  of  a  temporal 
deliverance,  when  he  refers  to  the  oath  given  to  their  father 
Abraham— which  was  preeminently  a  spiritual  promise,  and 
only  containing  a  temporal  signification  in  that  Israel  was  to 
be  blessed  as  a  nation? 

Since,  then,  this  hymn  refers  to  a  spiritual  deliverance,  we 
may  claim  it  as  our  own,  because,  according  to  St.  Paul  (Gal. 
iii.  7,  16,  29):  "They  which  are  of  faith,  the  same  are  the 
children  of  Abraham.  .  .  .  Now  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  were 
the  promises  made.  .  .  .  And  if  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye 
Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise."  There- 
fore St.  Paul  boldly  says  of  the  Gentile  race  in  Galatia,  to 
whom  he  wrote— poor,  helpless,  carnal  Christians  though  they 
were,  with  but  little  light  upon  spiritual  matters  compared  with 
what  we  have— that  if  they  were  Christ's  in  any  sense,  then 
they  were  Abraham's  seed ;  therefore  we  as  well  as  they  have 
a  right  to  claim  all  the  promises  that  were  given  to  the  de- 
scendants of  Abraham,  if  we  will  only  take  them  through  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  promise  recalled  by  Zacharias  is  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  beheve  of  any  to  be  found  in  God's  Word.  It 
seems  altogether  impossible  of  realization  for  men  in  the  pres- 
ent life.*  But  the  words  must  refer  to  the  present  world ;  they 
cannot  refer  to  the  next,  for  there,  of  course,  the  promise  will 
be  absolutely  fulfilled  by  the  removal  of  every  enemy.  It  must 
be  a  promise  for  this  life,  "that  we,  being  delivered  out  of 
the  hand  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him  [that  is,  God]  with- 
out fear,  in  holiness  and  righteousness  before  him,  all  the  days 
of  our  life." 

If  this  be  true,  then  what  are  we  to  understand  by  the 

*  Whether  we  receive  the  reading  of  the  Revised  Version,  which  omits 
the  expression  "  all  the  days  of  our  life,"  or  whether  we  retain  it  and  say 
it  is  to  be  all  the  days  of  our  life,  it  matters  not ;  the  significance  is  the 
same. 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  177 

words,  as  interpreted  by  the  ordinary  rules  of  the  English  lan- 
guage and  by  the  teachings  of  God's  holy  Book?  We  preach 
no  new  gospel,  for  then  it  could  not  be  true ;  but  we  desire  to 
impress  upon  your  minds  and  hearts  a  vivid  realization  of  the 
necessity  of  understanding  the  meaning  of  a  truth  which  you 
may  have  been  acquainted  with  mentally  and  have  refused  to 
accept  spiritually,  because,  forsooth,  it  seemed  impossible  of 
fulfilment  in  your  experience.  Now  let  the  truth  contained  in 
these  words  penetrate  from  the  brain  to  the  heart  and  from 
the  heart  to  the  spirit,  and  ask  yourself  what  it  would  mean 
for  you  if  this  experience  were  fulfilled  in  you— that,  being  de- 
livered out  of  the  hand  of  your  enemies,  you  might  serve  God 
without  fear,  in  holiness  and  righteousness  before  him,  all  the 
days  of  your  life.  If  this  is  impossible  now,  when  will  it  be 
possible?     If  not  to-day,  how  can  it  be  to-morrow? 

We  are  to  beHeve  God's  words  as  they  stand,  and  are  not 
to  pare  down  their  meaning  until  it  has  become  altogether 
changed.  Expositors  repeatedly  take  a  blessed  promise  like  this 
and  whittle  it  away  until  nine  tenths  of  the  blessedness  of  the 
promise  is  gone,  and  they  try  to  convince  themselves  that  God 
requires  no  more.  "  We  cannot  live  without  giving  way  to 
temper ;  we  cannot  Hve  without  native  lusts ;  we  cannot  live 
above  trials  and  troubles,"  say  the  ordinary  Christians,  and  so, 
alas!  have  said  ministers  from  the  pulpit.  It  is  a  sad  and 
grievous  blot  upon  our  Christian  teachers  that  they  will  not 
let  God  say  what  he  really  has  said,  but  that  they  must  turn 
God's  words  into  something  else. 

Fourteen  years  ago  I  was  invited  to  go  to  the  northern  part 
of  London,  where  there  was  to  be  a  great  gathering  of  clergy, 
and  to  set  before  them  my  belief  as  to  the  holy  life  that  is 
possible  for  every  behever.  The  letter  of  invitation  expressed 
the  conviction  that  I  was  in  danger  of  preaching  perfection- 
ism, and  that  there  would  be  great  likehhood  of  passivity  and 
other  evils,  if  men  should  come  to  receive  the  gospel  which  I 


17^  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

preached.  A  leader  of  the  church  sat  in  the  chair  as  arbiter 
between  me  and  the  great  body  of  clergy  before  me.  I  tried 
to  show  from  the  sixth  of  Romans  what  kind  of  a  life  could  be 
lived  with  regard  to  sin.  I  pointed  out  from  the  Church  of 
England  Prayer-book  many  of  the  expressions,  such  as :  "  That 
it  may  please  Thee  to  keep  us  this  day  without  sin ;"  "  That  we 
may  walk  pleasing  before  God  all  the  days  of  our  life."  At 
the  end  of  my  address  the  venerable  and  valued  chairman  arose, 
and  without  scruple  or  hesitation  flung  out  these  sad  words: 
"  Heresy,  heresy!  I  call  it  odious  heresy,  and  I  say  that  it  is 
for  the  glory  of  God  to  bring  us  into  sin,  that  he  may  have  the 
honor  to  pull  us  out."  I  do  not  think  that  the  dear  old  father 
meant  all  that  his  words  so  sadly  expressed ;  he  must  have 
meant  that  it  is  God's  glory  to  pull  us  out  of  sin  when  we  fall 
into  it.  Let  us  take  God's  Word  as  it  stands,  and  try  to  find 
out  the  message  that  it  contains  for  us. 

This  blessing  is  so  wonderful  that  the  Holy  Ghost  instructed 
Zacharias  to  say  that  it  is  not  a  mere  hope  or  a  mere  promise, 
but  it  is  a  covenant,  and  a  covenant  confirmed  by  the  oath  of 
God.  Zacharias  says  that  God  has  raised  up  a  Horn  of  Salva- 
tion "  to  perform  the  mercy  (promised)  to  our  fathers,  and  to 
remember  his  holy  covenant ;  the  oath  which  he  sware  to  our 
father  Abraham."  When  God  makes  a  covenant  men  ought 
to  hang  their  heads  with  shame  that  they  dare  to  doubt  its  ful- 
filment ;  but  when  God  deigns  to  confirm  that  covenant  by  an 
oath,  is  it  not,  as  the  Apostle  says  in  the  Episde  to  the  He- 
brews (vi.  1 8),  "  that  by  two  immutable  things,  in  which  it  was 
impossible  for  God  to  He,  we  might  have  a  strong  encourage- 
ment "  ? 

But  not  only  does  God's  oath  confirm  this  covenant,  that  we 
may  be  forced  to  beheve  his  word ;  Zacharias  also  declares  that 
God  has  sworn  "  that  he  would  grant  unto  us  "—that  he  would 
give  us — this  deHverance  ;  therefore  this  is  hke  any  other  gift  of 
God,  not  to  be  attained  by  the  effort  of  man,  by  struggle  or 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  I79 

by  toil,  not  by  man's  zeal  or  energy— it  is  by  the  gift  of  God. 
No  wonder  that  St.  Paul  says,  "  Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his 
unspeakable  gift."  What  gift  ?  Not  simply  forgiveness.  God 
does  give  forgiveness  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb ;  but  St. 
Paul  refers  to  the  whole  gift  of  salvation.  Likewise  in  this 
song  of  Zacharias  the  gift  of  salvation  includes  not  merely  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  but  the  continuance  of  grace  throughout 
the  whole  period  of  trial,  until  the  final  issue  in  the  covenant, 
when  we  are  made  one  with  Christ  in  his  own  perfect  inheri- 
tance in  glory. 

Now  our  great  enemy,  the  devil,  will  try  to  deceive  you 
and  will  tempt  you  to  say,  "  It  is  all  very  well  for  one  who  is 
wrapped  up  in  quiet  in  the  wilds  of  Africa  or  Asia  to  talk  about 
the  grace  of  God  being  sufficient,  but  I  have  to  face  a  pecu- 
liarly stern  and  painful  difficulty."  Does  not  God  know  the 
circumstances  in  which  you  are  placed?  Is  God  Almighty  in 
the  dark  about  you?  God  knows  you  and  your  circumstances, 
and  he  sees  that  "  there  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such 
as  is  common  to  man :  but  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer 
you  to  be  tempted  above  that  ye  are  able ;  but  will  with  the 
temptation  also  make  a  way  to  escape,  that  ye  may  be  able 
to  bear  it."  Cut  off  your  right  hand,  or  tear  out  your  tongue, 
rather  than  lie  to  God  by  saying  that  there  is  no  deliverance 
for  you  because  of  your  **  peculiar  circumstances."  God  has 
put  you  in  those  circumstances,  or  you  would  better  leave  them. 
If  you  are  not  glorifying  God  where  you  are,  get  out  of  that 
position  as  quickly  as  possible.  But  if  you  are  in  the  right 
place,  remember  that  Almighty  God  is  working  for  you,  and 
that  he  has  made  an  oath  that  you,  "  being  dehvered  out  of 
the  hand  of  your  enemies,  might  serve  him."  This  word  serve, 
as  used  in  the  Bible,  cannot  be  taken  in  any  ordinary  earthly 
sense.  The  noun  and  the  verb  occur  twenty-six  times  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  this  is  the  only  passage  in  which  serve 
could  possibly  mean  anything  but  the  spiritual  service  of  God. 


i8o  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

The  other  twenty-five  passages  make  it  perfectly  clear  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  refers  to  spiritual  service  like  that  of  the  priests  in 
the  sacrifice  and  worship  of  the  temple.  Therefore  we  are 
justified  in  taking  the  verb  serve  here  to  mean  that  we  should 
walk  in  fellowship  with  God,  that  we  should  offer  sacrifices 
pleasing  to  God,  and  that  we  should  enter  into  the  holy  place 
and  there  serve  him  according  to  his  holy  ordinance. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  this  promise  is  meant  for  us,  and  is 
to  last  all  our  life,  and  that  God  has  sworn  to  give  this  bless- 
ing to  those  who  have  been  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  their 
enemies.  First  of  all,  then,  who  are  our  enemies?  I  would 
sum  them  up  under  the  five  titles  of  sin,  the  flesh,  the  world, 
the  devil,  and  death— if  we  consider  death  as  distinct  from  the 
devil.  Is  it  true  that  the  Horn  of  our  Salvation,  Jesus  Christ, 
who  was  raised  up  according  to  the  oath  of  God  to  give  us 
deliverance,  has  actually  delivered  us  out  of  the  hand  of  these 
five  enemies  ?  God  does  not  say  that  he  will  deliver  from  the 
existence  or  from  the  presejice  of  these  enemies ;  he  only  prom- 
ises to  deliver  us  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies  through  the 
Horn  of  our  Salvation.  Not  for  one  moment  are  we  to  think 
that  these  enemies  are  dead.*  Our  enemy  is  not  dead ;  he  is 
living;  what  you  have  to  do  is  to  kill  the  right  man.  Kill 
yourself  You  died — not  your  enemies — you  died  in  Christ; 
your  enemies  live  still,  but  how  are  you  delivered  out  of  their 
hand  ?     Look  at  what  the  Lord  has  done  for  us. 

Sin— we  do  not  speak  of  sins— is  an  enemy.  Sins  are  the 
fruit  or  wounds  produced  by  the  enemy  that  hes  at  the  root  of 
all  sins.    What  we  need  is  not  to  be  simply  pardoned  for  sins ; 

*  Twenty  years  ago  men  used  to  talk  about  a  Jew  who,  when  he  was 
brought  into  the  church  of  Christ,  was  counted  as  dead  by  his  family,  and 
was  nominally  buried  by  them ;  a  headstone  was  also  erected  to  say  that 
he  was  dead  and  gone.  They  used  to  say  that  our  position  with  regard  to 
sin  and  the  flesh  was  that  of  a  father  to  whom  the  child  was  dead.  No, 
no,  there  is  no  death  in  this  case. 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  i8i 

the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  will  cleanse  us  from  all  sin,  and  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  is  different  from  deliverance  from  sin.  Our 
sins  are  all  written  in  a  book  of  acts  committed,  and  they  are 
there  to  testify  against  us ;  God  blots  them  out  with  the  blood 
of  Jesus,  but  that  act  does  not  dehver  us  from  the  presence 
and  the  pressure  of  sin  as  a  taskmaster.  The  Lord  Jesus,  our 
Horn  of  Salvation,  has  given  us  deliverance  from  the  hand  of 
sin.     How  has  this  been  effected  ? 

Sin  is  illustrated  by  Egypt  in  its  old  power  over  Israel,  and 
holds  us  in  bondage  as  a  taskmaster  holds  his  slaves,  so  that 
we  cannot  have  our  own  way.  The  Lord  Jesus  gives  us  de- 
liverance from  the  hand  of  this  enemy  exactly  as  God  gave 
Israel  deliverance  from  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians.  There 
were  certain  foes  that  pursued  the  people  into  the  sea,  but  were 
drowned.  They  resemble  those  sins  that  pursue  us  day  after 
day  ;  God  slays  them,  and  they  He  dead  before  our  eyes.  But 
the  power  of  Egypt  as  a  nation  remained  intact  after  the  Israel- 
ites were  dehvered  from  bondage.  The  IsraeHtes  were  abso- 
lutely set  free  from  the  power  of  those  enemies  by  the  waters 
of  the  Red  Sea  that  rolled  between  them  and  the  Egyptians ; 
they  could  feel  that  the  great  sea  of  death  stood  between  them 
and  their  former  taskmasters,  and  they  could  claim,  on  the  east- 
em  shore,  to  be  absolutely  free  from  the  hand  of  Egypt.  Thus 
we  go  down  into  Christ's  death,  and,  rising  on  the  other  side, 
we  find  that  our  sins  have  been  blotted  out  and  buried  ;  but  sin, 
the  old  taskmaster,  still  lives  and  stands  there.  Where?  On 
the  other  side  of  the  Red  Sea  of  Christ's  blood.  Jesus  died  for 
me,  so  that  I  died  with  him.  Therefore  St.  Paul  says  (Rom. 
vi.  7,  1 8)  you  are  "freed  [justified]  from  sin,  .  .  .  being  made 
free  from  sin."  We  are  not  only  justified,  but  we  are  set  free 
from  the  power  of  sin,  like  slaves  who  have  been  freed  from 
an  old  taskmaster. 

Now  how  are  we  to  meet  the  temptations  which  come  from 
sin,  our  old  master  ?   A  man  said  to  me  some  time  ago,  "  There 


1 82  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

is  that  old  power,  that  taskmaster,  sin,  that  rises  up  again  and 
again  and  holds  me  down ;  just  when  I  am  trying  to  be  faith- 
ful this  old  cursed  master  rises  up  and  claims  me,  and  he  gets 
control  of  me."  That  is  the  experience  of  almost  every  man 
until,  by  the  grace  of  God,  the  blessed  truth  becomes  perfectly 
clear  that  Jesus  Christ  did  really  set  us  free  from  the  thraldom 
of  sin— that  indwelling  corruption,  that  evil-working  power  that 
has  held  us  in  bondage.  If,  now,  the  taskmaster  of  the  former 
days  rises  up  and  claims  us,  looking,  as  it  were,  over  the  hedge 
on  to  the  property  of  our  new  Master,  our  loved  Lord— when 
the  old  taskmaster  shakes  his  fist  at  you  or  me  and  says,  "  Come 
back,  you  dog,  you  are  my  slave,"  just  remember  that  you  are 
on  the  territory  of  the  new  Master,  and  that  a  hedge  surrounds 
it  which  the  old  master  cannot  climb.  Our  new  Master  says, 
"  You  are  mine,  my  child ;  tell  him  so."  The  Lord  does  the 
keeping,  and  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  claim  the  position.  It 
seems  to  me  that  our  faith  fails  in  that  we  do  not  half  claim 
what  God  Almighty  has  given  to  us ;  we  do  not  take  our  rights. 
We  become  slaves  to  God  because  we  love  him.  We  have 
been  set  free  from  sin,  but  we  shall  never  know  what  this 
blessed  liberty  is  if  we  are  looking  over  the  hedge  and  saying, 
"  My  dear  old  master,  I  wish  I  could  go  back  to  you."  No ; 
our  new  Master,  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  must  claim  our 
souls  as  his  own  because  we  love  him  ;  and  then  we  need  have 
no  fear  whatever  of  the  old  master  on  the  other  side  of  the 
hedge,  for  he  has  no  power.  We  may  not  hope  ever  in  this 
life  to  be  entirely  free  from  the  presence  of  that  indwelling  cor- 
ruption called  sin ;  the  taskmaster  may  rest  for  a  time,  but  he 
has  only  to  rise  up  in  order  to  terrify  us,  if  we  are  off  our  guard. 
If  you  once  begin  lusting  after  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  those 
dirty  old  leeks  and  cucumbers  that  smell  so  strongly,  you  can 
go  back  to  them  easily  enough  if  you  wish,  and  you  will  find 
that  the  old  Egypt  power  is  as  much  alive  as  ever.  But  we 
have  been  set  free  by  the  power  of  the  living  Christ  and  by 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  183 

virtue  of  his  death,  and  we  experience  this  deliverance  from 
the  active  power  of  sin  by  putting  Christ's  death  between  our- 
selves and  our  old  taskmaster. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  flesh.  The  flesh  is  distinct  from 
sin,  because  it  is  a  part  of  our  very  nature.  Sin  is  a  taskmas- 
ter ruHng  over  us ;  the  flesh  is  an  evil  principle  working  in 
every  man  by  nature.  It  is  that  flesh  which  makes  us  ready 
to  yield  to  the  claims  of  sin,  the  taskmaster,  even  when  we  are 
children  of  God.  Both  sin  and  the  flesh  remain,  even  in  ther 
regenerate,  up  to  the  very  last  moment  of  our  earthly  exis- 
tence. Sin,  the  master,  and  the  flesh,  the  slave  willing  to  serve 
him,  are  always  ready  to  bring  about  our  discomfiture,  if  for 
one  moment  we  turn  our  eyes  away  from  Christ. 

Have  we  been  delivered  from  the  hand  of  the  flesh?  What 
says  the  blessed  Word  in  the  eighth  of  Romans?— that  "  there 
is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ 
Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  What 
says  the  fifth  of  Galatians?  ''Walk  in  the  Spirit,  and  ye  shall 
not  fulfil  the  lust  of  the  flesh."  What  does  that  mean?  In 
the  center  of  every  man's  being  stands  his  ego,  his  "  I,"  the  per- 
sonahty  that  chooses  every  moment  what  shall  be  done.  Now 
on  the  one  hand  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  child  of  God  calls  upon 
this  ego  to  choose  the  right,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  flesh, 
that  corrupt  thing,  beckons  the  ego  into  sin.  St.  Paul  says  in 
the  fifth  of  Galatians  that  at  every  moment  "  the  flesh  lusteth 
against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh ;  .  .  .  that 
ye  cannot  do  the  things  that  ye  would."  This  means  that  "  I," 
the  personality,  must  choose ;  and  if  I  choose  for  one  moment 
to  yield  to  the  flesh,  the  predominating  influence  is  on  that  side 
of  the  hedge  and  I  tumble  over  into  the  ditch  of  sin.  But  if 
I  yield  myself  to  live  in  the  Spirit,  as  I  have  the  power  to  do, 
I  will  then  walk  in  the  Spirit.  Thus,  when  the  Spirit  of  God 
prompts  me  to  follow  the  right,  if  I  obey,  at  that  moment  I 
pass  under  the  predominating  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  am 


1 84  THE  LIFE   OF  PRiyiLEGE 

living  in  the  Spirit  and  walking  in  the  Spirit  and  obeying  the 
Spirit,  and  the  flesh,  blessed  be  God,  is  left  out  in  the  cold. 
This  is  the  walk  in  the  Spirit  which  every  child  of  God  can 
have.  The  one  deciding  influence  of  the  moment  is  my  will. 
If  I  say  to  the  Holy  Ghost  power,  "  Yes,  Lord,"  I  am  in  the 
sphere  of  the  Spirit.  If  I  say  "  Yes  "  to  the  flesh,  I  have  fallen 
under  the  power  of  sin,  but  through  my  own  fault.  We  may 
thus  be  delivered  from  the  hand  of  the  flesh,  although  it  is 
never  extinct.  As  the  death  of  Christ  sets  us  free  from  the 
power  of  sin  as  a  taskmaster,  so  we  are  saved  from  corrup- 
tion of  the  flesh  by  the  death  of  Christ  and  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  within  us,  in  order  "  that  as  Christ  was  raised  by 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in 
newness  of  hfe  "—the  Holy  Ghost  life. 

The  WORLD  presents  its  temptations  to  all  of  us,  and  it  pre- 
sents them  to  us  in  two  separate  forms,  either  alluring  or  at- 
tacking. In  each  case  we  are  delivered  from  the  hand  of  the 
world  by  virtue  of  the  death  of  Christ,  as  we  were  delivered 
from  sin  and  the  flesh.  But  the  power  of  Christ's  w^ork  will 
only  operate  for  our  benefit  as  we,  moment  by  moment,  exer- 
cise faith.  "  This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world, 
even  our  faith"  (i  John  v.  4).  When  the  attacking  world 
comes,  like  Amalek— the  hillside  foe  that  should  have  been 
our  friend— when  he  attacks  us  and  tries  to  put  us  out  of  ex- 
istence, what  are  we  to  do?  When  we  claim  to  have  a  new 
life  and  liberty,  the  Amalekites  always  rise  up  against  us— they 
may  be  our  own  families,  our  own  friends— and  a  pretty  fierce 
attack  they  make  upon  us.  How  are  we  to  meet  them?  By 
faith.  As  long  as  the  hands  of  Moses  are  held  up  with  the  rod  of 
power  in  them,  Israel  finds  that  under  the  strength  of  that  rod 
Amalek  is  beaten  and  the  Lord's  people  have  perpetual  victory. 
Let  the  world  attack  you ;  the  Lord  is  strong  enough  to  give 
you  the  victory.  Jesus  Christ  was  born  into  this  world  as  the 
Son  of  man,  "  that  he  might  deliver  us  [the  Greek  is  "  draw  us 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  185 

out  "]  from  this  present  evil  world  "  (Gal.  i.  4).  Christ  stands 
ready  to  take  us  out  of  the  place  of  temptation,  if  we  are 
ready  to  come  out  when  God  calls  us. 

As  examples  of  the  seductive  world,  look  at  those  who  tempted 
Israel — Moab,  Ammon,  and  Edom.  What  are  we  to  do  with 
reference  to  them?  "Be  not  conformed  to  this  world:  but 
be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may 
prove  what  is  that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of 
God."  Offer  yourselves  to  the  Lord  continually,  and  you  will 
find  that  you  are  delivered  out  of  the  hand  both  of  the  attack- 
ing and  of  the  seducing  enemy.  The  world  says,  "  Come  and 
have  a  httle  dance ;  come  and  have  a  little  game ;  let  us  take 
a  little  pleasure.  We  need  not  play  for  more  than  pennies,  but 
let  us  have  a  game  of  whist."  Beloved,  what  we  must  reply 
is  this :  "  I  am  doing  a  great  work,  and  I  cannot  go  down.  I 
am  building  the  walls  of  Jerusalem."  When  people  ask,  "  What 
is  the  harm  in  a  little  pleasure?  "  we  should  always  answer,  "  I 
have  not  time  to  let  my  Master's  business  stand  idle  and  to  be 
wasting  precious  moments."  You  need  not  ask  if  it  is  wrong 
to  go  to  a  ball  or  to  a  theater ;  preach  Christ,  live  Christ,  look 
for  Christ,  and  walk  with  Christ,  and  the  world  will  very  soon 
drop  you.  The  Lord  has  taken  his  oath  to  deliver  us,  and  if 
we  take  our  oath  not  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  world, 
God  Almighty  will  keep  us  in  safety.  Living  faith  in  a  living 
Christ  will  keep  us  from  falling  under  temptation  from  the 
world. 

Some  people  think  that  the  devil  is  dead.  They  must  have 
had  a  large  dose  of  morphine  to  put  them  into  a  very  sound 
sleep.  Martin  Luther  is  said  to  have  had  a  dream  in  which  he 
thought  that  there  was  great  commotion  in  hell.  One  of  the 
demons  came  down  shouting,  "Tidings,  my  lord  Beelzebub, 
from  earth :  Luther  is  going  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation to-morrow."  Beelzebub  said,  "What  shall  we  do  to 
counteract  the  effect  of  such  a  discourse?  "    One  demon  said, 


1 86  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIl^ILEGE 

"  I  will  go  into  the  congregation  and  move  from  soul  to  soul, 
and  will  say,  '  It  is  all  a  lie;  there  is  no  devil.' "  Beelzebub 
answered,  "  You  fool,  every  man  knows  that  there  is  a  devil ;  he 
has  only  to  look  within  and  he  will  see  that  he  is  there.  That 
will  not  do."  Another  evil  spirit  said,  "  I  will  go  and  say  that 
there  is  a  God  and  there  is  a  devil,  but  there  is  no  hell."  Beel- 
zebub answered,  "  You  fool,  that  will  be  of  no  avail,  for  every 
man  knows  that  there  is  a  hell."  Then  a  third  said,  "  Let  me  go, 
and  I  will  deceive  the  whole  congregation."  "  What  will  you 
say?  "  "  I  will  say  to  them  that  there  is  a  God,  and  he  is  very 
just  and  holy ;  that  there  is  a  devil,  and  he  is  very  strong  and 
wicked ;  that  there  is  a  hell,  and  it  is  everlasting,  and  its  tor- 
ment is  very  bitter,  but  that  they  need  not  go  there.  I  will 
say  that  there  will  be  time  to  repent  when  they  are  dying, 
therefore  that  they  may  put  off  the  day."  "  You  will  be  suc- 
cessful," exclaimed  the  arch-fiend.  ''That  is  what  we  want. 
Tell  them  to  put  off  the  time  for  repenting  and  beHeving; 
they  will  all  be  glad  to  do  that."  There  are  demons  at  work 
the  world  over,  and  they  are  saying  to  every  one  who  has  not 
entered  into  this  Hfe  of  deliverance,  "  Put  it  off  for  a  little 
while ;  it  is  not  necessary  to  do  it  to-day."  Thanks  be  to  God, 
we  are  told  (Heb.  ii.  14)  that  the  Lord  Jesus  was  revealed  that 
he  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is, 
the  devil.  Christ  came  to  bring  to  naught  the  great  immoral 
power  of  the  devil,  in  order  that  we,  being  delivered  out  of 
the  hand  of  our  enemy,  might  claim  to  be  free  in  the  strength 
of  the  Lord ;  and  if  we  trust  in  his  strength  we  shall  find  that 
the  devil  cannot  prevail. 

Lastly,  what  about  death?  There  are  men  who  all  their 
lifetime  are  in  bondage  for  fear  of  death.  Christ  Jesus  died 
to  set  us  free  from  this  enemy  also,  and  though  death  exists 
around  us,  and  already  has  a  grip  upon  some  of  us,  there  is 
now  for  us  no  sting  in  death,  "  thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth 
us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."     In  the  death 


DELIVERANCE  AND  SERVICE  187 

of  Jesus,  in  his  resurrection  and  in  his  hfe  on  high,  we  are 
delivered  from  this  enemy  also  as  we  are  from  every  other. 

Now  what  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  this  deliverance  ?  Being 
delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  the  enemy,  we  each  of  us  have 
one  blessed  privilege— duty,  if  you  hke  that  word— toward  Al- 
mighty God ;  it  is  that  we  may  serve  him,  that  we  may  perform 
the  blessed  offices  and  privileges  of  priests,  offering  to  God 
our  holy  service  in  his  holy  sanctuary,  keeping  apart  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  having  the  Lord  for  our  inheritance,  being 
provided  for  by  God  out  of  his  bounty  and  love,  and  never 
even  needing  to  pray  for  our  daily  meat.  Who  ever  heard 
of  a  priest  in  Jerusalem  praying  for  his  leg  of  mutton?  He 
knew  that  the  Lord  would  find  him  all  the  provision  he  needed, 
and  when  he  came  to  a  certain  age  he  retired  from  the  activ- 
ities of  life  and  was  provided  for  as  a  pensioner  on  the  bounty 
of  God. 

We  often  forget  that  we  are  meant  to  serve  God  now,  in 
this  world,  in  holiness  and  righteousness.  In  this  passage,  at 
least,  holiness  refers  to  our  attitude  and  conduct  of  life  toward 
God,  and  righteousness  to  our  attitude  and  conduct  toward 
man.  What  did  God  mean  when  he  said  that  we  should 
henceforth  serve  him  night  and  day  in  his  holy  temple  in 
holiness?  He  meant  that  the  very  mind  and  nature  and 
being  of  God  is  to  be  reflected  in  us,  and  that  we  are  to  have 
fellowship  with  him.  The  attitude  of  our  souls  toward  God 
is  to  be  one  of  hohness.  God  is  holy,  therefore  we  are  to  be 
holy. 

Now  toward  man  we  are  to  live  in  righteousness.  From 
this  day  forth  we  are  always  to  do  what  is  right  to  our  neigh- 
bors—never to  take  advantage  of  any  one,  never  selfishly  to 
take  the  best  of  anything.  When  the  flesh  has  been  subor- 
dinated to  the  Spirit  we  shall  not  be  greedy ;  then  we  shall 
not  be  luxurious  at  the  cost  of  the  time  and  comfort  of  others. 
The  whole  man  given  over  to  God,  and  not  to  the  world,  will 


1 88  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

keep  us  from  wearing  jewelry  that  hampers  our  souls  and  turns 
us  from  the  Lord.  Then  we  cannot  go  into  company  where 
Christ  is  not  the  ruler;  we  cannot  take  partnership  in  any 
business  upon  which  we  cannot  ask  God's  blessing.  We  are 
to  serve  God  in  holiness  and  righteousness.  I  heard  of  a  man 
in  Scotland  who  was  said  to  be  very  godly  and  earnest.  The 
question  was  asked  by  a  stranger  in  the  place  if  this  man  were 
as  good  as  he  was  described— as  much  out  and  out  for  God. 
The  answer  was,  "  Well,  I  think  he  is  straight  enough  toward 
God,  but  he  is  a  wee  bit  twistical  toward  men."  A  great 
many  Christians  appear  to  be  all  right  on  Sunday  toward  God, 
but  from  Monday  to  Saturday  are  very  apt  to  play  "  twistical  " 
tricks  toward  men.  God  give  us  the  grace  that  will  make  us 
Hve  in  hohness  and  in  righteousness  before  him,  the  great 
Searcher  of  hearts.  "  Walk  before  me,"  said  God  to  Moses, 
"and  be  thou  perfect,"  or  sincere  and  upright. 

Finally,  this  service  is  to  last  all  the  days  of  our  Hfe.  What 
a  glorious  thought!  Our  service  never  ceases,  because  it  is 
God  who  works,  not  I.  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I 
am,"  says  St.  Paul :  "...  I  labored  more  abundantly  than 
they  all :  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me." 

God  Almighty  grant  us  grace  to  see  that  this  life  of  service 
may  be  carried  out  from  henceforth  in  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness before  him  all  the  days  of  our  life. 


ONE   THING-ALL   THINGS 


"  But  (this)  one  (thing  I  do)." — Philippiaxs  hi.  13. 
"  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me." — Phil- 
IPPIANS  IV.  13. 

IN  the  original  Greek  four  of  these  six  words  from  the  third 
chapter  of  the  Philippian  Epistle  do  not  appear,  but  have 
been  introduced  into  the  English  version  by  the  translators. 
St.  Paul  wrote  but  two  words,  which  are  composed  of  two 
letters  each:  ev  de,  "But  one."  A  blessed  httle  sentence! 
But  ONE  what?  One  God,  one  Father,  one  Home,  one  Saviour, 
one  precept,  one  supreme  idea,  one  desire,  one  conviction,  one 
impulse,  one  purpose,  one  doctrine,  takes  possession  of  every 
faculty  of  my  being,  every  moment  of  my  hfe,  every  action, 
every  possession  ;  "  but  one  "  and  "  with  that  one  before  me,  I 
can  say,"  says  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  "  that  I  press 
toward  the  mark."  Why  ?  "  Because  I  am  enabled,  in  the 
face  of  that  one,  whatever  we  may  understand  by  it,  to  forget 
those  things  which  are  behind,  and  to  reach  forth  unto  those 
things  which  are  before,  until  it  impels  me  at  every  point  of 
my  being  to  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high 
calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  Have  you  ever  seen  a  race- 
course—not the  evil  professional  race-course,  where  dangers 
beset  every  child  of  God,  but  the  race-course  of  boyhood  or 
college  life?  Have  you  ever  watched  a  race  or  taken  part  in 
one?    Have  you  ever  felt  the  instantaneous  effect  of  the  word 

189 


190  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

"Go/"  upon  your  whole  being?  Every  faculty  impels 
you  to  press  toward  the  mark,  a  white  tape,  by  the  side  of 
which  sits  the  judge ;  the  impulse  and  design  of  your  heart  is 
to  be  the  first  to  reach  that  one  point,  which  says,  "  Victory ! 
the  crown  is  yours."  If  you  are  pressing  forward  to  win  that 
prize  for  one  you  love  it  will  be  the  very  delight  of  your  soul 
to  hand  it  over  to  her  and  to  say,  "  Beloved,  this  is  my  victory ; 
it  is  all  for  thee."  Have  you  ever  felt  such  an  impulse  stirring 
your  whole  being  until,  with  the  head  stretched  out  before  the 
hand,  and  the  hand  before  the  foot,  the  feet  obey  the  im- 
pulse, and  every  nerve  is  intent  upon  going  forward?  God  per- 
mitted me  in  my  youth  to  be  champion  swimmer,  diver,  high 
jumper,  and  long  jumper,  and  I  know  well  what  it  is  to  strive 
for  the  prize  and  to  win  it.  But  what  becomes  of  earthly  prizes 
—silver  cups  to  be  buried  in  a  box?  They  are  nothing  to  me 
now ;  but  oh,  the  impulse  to  gain  the  point,  and  then  to  know 
that  the  prize  is  won! 

Now  in  the  spiritual  life  what  is  it  to  have  the  whole  soul 
set  toward  the  mark?  We  look  eagerly  for  that  moment 
when  this  earthly  career  shall  be  ended  and  the  Judge  shall 
say  what  our  reward  shall  be.  Oh,  the  impulse  to  gain  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus!  Then 
Christ  will  distribute  his  crowns.  Have  you  ever  set  your 
heart  upon  a  crown?  Utterly  unworthy  as  I  know  myself  to 
be  I  cannot  be  satisfied  that  I  should  gain  less  than  all  the 
crowns  that  my  Lord  offers  to  the  participants  in  the  heavenly 
race.  What  are  these  crowns?  In  the  Revelation  to  St.  John 
(ii.  lo)  we  have  the  promise,  ''Be  thou  faithful  unto  death, 
and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life."  That  is  for  faithfulness 
in  our  own  personal  life  (cf.  James  i.  12).  St.  Paul  writes  to 
Timothy  (2  Tim.  iv.  8)  of  "  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which 
the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give,  not  to  me  only,  but 
unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing."  That  is  a  crown  for 
fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith,  for  finishing  the  course,  and 


ONE   THING— ALL   THINGS  191 

for  keeping  the  faith  firm  unto  the  end.  There  is  also  the 
"crown  of  rejoicing,"  which  shall  be  given  for  winning  the 
souls  of  the  poor  outcasts  in  their  darkness  (i  Thess.  ii.  19). 
Finally,  there  is  the  "  crown  of  glory,  that  fadeth  not  away," 
of  which  Peter  speaks  (i  Pet.  v.  4).  This  is  the  crown  which 
the  chief  Shepherd  will  give  to  the  under-shepherds  who  have 
guarded  the  flock  and  have  watched  the  sheep  and  cared  for 
the  lambs ;  a  crown  of  glory,  the  best  of  all— a  crown  of  hfe, 
a  crown  of  righteousness,  a  crown  of  rejoicing,  a  crown  of 
glory.  What  shall  we  do  with  the  crowns  when  we  have 
them?  What  will  be  the  impulse  of  our  souls,  our  greatest 
privilege?  It  will  be  to  cast  our  crowns  at  His  feet  and  to 
say,  with  the  "  four  and  twenty  elders,"  "  Thou  art  worthy,  O 
Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honor  and  power:  for  thou  hast 
created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were  cre- 
ated "  (Rev.  iv.  11).  This  is  the  impulse  of  every  truly  saved 
soul ;  this  is  the  desire,  the  design,  the  purpose,  the  irresistible 
impulse  of  every  man  or  woman  who  is  wholly  consecrated  to 
God.  What  Christian  can  be  content  to  obtain  less  than  the 
best  that  the  kingdom  of  God  offers  ?  Who  can  be  so  utterly 
careless,  so  unresponsive  to  the  goodness  of  God,  as  to  be 
content  with  simply  getting  into  heaven?  Consider  the  vast 
number  of  creatures  that  live  in  the  ocean,  from  the  wretched 
mussel,  or  the  poor  limpet  that  clings  to  the  rock  and  never 
knows  the  privilege  of  motion,  to  the  magnificent  whale  that 
presses  through  the  water  with  a  power  that  is  almost  unlim- 
ited, and  tell  me  which  you  would  rather  be.  Would  you  be 
content  to  cling  to  the  rock  all  your  life,  like  the  limpet,  or 
would  you  prefer  to  sport  through  the  ocean  with  unbounded 
power?  It  is  a  great  blessing  to  live  in  the  ocean  of  God's 
love,  it  is  grand  to  say  we  are  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord ;  but  it  is  one  thing  simply  to  cling  to  the 
rock  and  to  know  no  more,  if  we  know  anything,  than  that 
we  exist ;  it  is  quite  another  thing  to  sport  and  be  glad,  and  to 


192  THE  LIFE   OF  PRIVILEGE 

lift  up  one's  whole  being  in  the   consciousness  of  power  to 
move  and  progress  rapidly  through  God's  ocean  of  love. 

We  must  each  decide  for  ourselves  what  shall  be  our  ambi- 
tion henceforth  and  forevermore.  We  must  have  no  degrad- 
ing idea  of  merely  sneaking  into  heaven  through  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb ;  it  must  not  be  the  mere  cowardly,  selfish  thought, 
"  Glory  to  God,  I  am  out  of  hell ! "  Saved  from,  we  are, 
blessed  be  God ;  but  saved  by  is  a  more  glorious  dignity — 
saved  by  Jesus  Christ.  Contrast  such  a  thought  as  that  of 
being  merely  rescued  from  hell  with  the  picture  traced  by  the 
Apostle  Paul.  If  any  man  in  this  world  ever  deserved  to  at- 
tain to  glory  before  God  by  reason  of  his  own  righteousness 
St.  Paul  did.  He  could  boast,  I  suppose,  that  he  had  done 
more  to  deserve  eternal  hfe  than  any  one  else  of  the  whole 
human  race.  Who  of  us  could  say  with  St.  Paul  that,  as 
touching  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  we  are  blameless ;  that 
we  have  been  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  a  Pharisee  of  the 
Pharisees ;  set  apart  to  God's  holy  business  from  the  days  of 
our  infancy;  kept  by  the  power  of  God  from  a  condemning 
conscience,  and  even  more,  perhaps,  from  a  condemning  law ; 
kept  by  the  goodness  of  God,  and  enabled  to  live  a  spotless 
life,  so  far  as  man  could  judge?  And  yet  St.  Paul  was  never 
satisfied,  never  restful,  never  joyous,  never  peaceful,  until  there 
came  that  wondrous  day  when  the  Lord  struck  him  down  and 
blinded  his  natural  eyes  that  he  might  see  spiritual  things.  As 
an  old  man  once  said  to  me,  "  God  darkened  the  eyes  of  my 
body,  sir,  that  he  might  open  the  eyes  of  my  soul."  God 
blinded  the  eyes  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  that  day  on  the  road  to 
Damascus,  in  the  bright  glare  of  the  noontide  sun,  that  he 
might  open  the  eyes  of  his  soul  to  see  Jesus,  whom  he  had 
been  persecuting.  He  had  been  persecuting  Jesus,  as  we  have 
been  persecuting  the  beloved  Son  of  God  by  our  godless 
efforts  to  attain  self-righteousness,  and  by  refusing  to  bow  our 
heads  in  entire  self-surrender  to  him.     We  must  bow  down 


ONE  THING— ALL   THINGS  i93 

before  him  in  order  that  we  may  be  Hfted  up  by  him.  That 
moment  came  in  the  career  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  when,  his  spirit- 
ual eyes  being  opened  by  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  saw  the 
vanity,  the  emptiness,  the  hopelessness  of  man  when  left  to 
his  own  self-righteous  efforts ;  he  saw,  too,  the  perfection  of 
God's  gift  in  his  beloved  Son,  Jesus,  and  he  just  opened  his 
whole  being  to  receive  what  God  was  pleased  to  give  him. 
From  that  moment  he  says  that  his  soul  was  set  upon  "  one 
thing,"  one  all-absorbing  purpose  of  his  life.  He  saw  in  an 
instant  that  whereas  man  was  nothing,  Christ  was  everything ; 
that  whereas  righteousness  by  the  law  was  vain  and  hopeless, 
righteousness  as  given  in  Christ  Jesus  was  all-perfection,  and 
might  be  received  in  a  moment.  He  took  that  righteousness, 
and  his  soul  became  satisfied  as  never  before.  Then  there 
arose  within  him  a  new  impulse,  a  desire  such  as  he  had  never 
known,  to  glorify  God.  Up  to  that  moment  his  one  thought 
had  been  to  evade  God.  He  had  perhaps  obeyed  God  as  a 
slave  under  the  law  of  compulsion ;  but  now  there  came  a  de- 
sire, not  to  evade  God,  or  to  obey  him  from  mere  necessity ;  but 
one  impulse  took  possession  of  the  man's  whole  being— it  was 
to  win  Christ  in  all  his  fullness.  Of  course  he  had  won  Christ, 
in  one  sense,  the  moment  that  the  eyes  of  his  soul  were  opened. 
As  soon  as  a  man  beheves,  all  Christ  is  his,  but  the  man  does 
not  know  the  value  of  his  new  possession.  So  St.  Paul  soon 
came  to  see  that  there  were  unsearchable  riches  in  Christ, 
and  that  he  could  never  hope  to  exhaust  these  treasures  or  to 
satisfy  his  soul  by  any  half-hearted  course  ;  therefore  he  set  his 
face,  he  set  his  heart,  his  soul,  his  mind,  his  whole  being,  toward 
one  thing— to  gain  a  knowledge  of  Christ  and  to  win  Christ 
in  all  his  beauty,  while  Christ  came  to  dwell  in  him  in  all  his 
power.  St.  Paul's  ambition  was  this :  "  Christ,  Christ,  Christ 
for  me  in  ever}'thing." 

The  holy  ambition  of  a  man  Hke  St.  Paul  should  inspire  us 
to  emulate  it,  so  that  by  the  grace  of  God  we  may  have  a  full 


194  THE  LIFE  OF  PRiyiLEGE 

satisfaction  such  as  he  attained  by  giving  up  everything  for 
the  sake  of  knowing  Christ  in  all  the  fullness  of  his  power 
and  love.  My  brother,  would  you  know  how  to  attain  that? 
Would  you  know  what  a  life  wholly  consecrated  to  God  will 
mean,  and  what  it  will  receive  in  the  way  of  reward?  Then 
study  the  picture  of  this  man  who  had  a  holy  ambition.  It  is 
a  remarkable  fact  that  in  this  little  autobiographical  sketch 
St.  Paul  has  brought  out  concerning  the  true  believer  and  the 
aspirant  after  the  crowns  certain  features  which  make  it  all  so 
plain  that  I  do  not  think  even  the  dullest  could  say,  "  I  do 
not  know  what  I  must  do  or  be  in  order  to  receive  this  fullness 
of  blessing." 

The  Lord  God,  by  the  pen  of  St.  Paul  in  this  letter  to  the 
Philippians,  has  given  us  six  uses  of  the  expression  "all 
THINGS,"  in  contrast  to  one  use  of  the  expression  "  one  thing." 
Taking  these  seven  expressions  together,  we  have  the  most 
perfect  picture  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  of  the  Hfe  of 
holiness,  the  life  of  peace,  the  life  of  power,  and  the  hfe  of 
assurance  of  everlasting  blessedness.  These  six  "  all  things  " 
help  us  to  see  what  must  take  place  in  our  experience  if  we 
wish  to  be  like  the  Apostle  Paul  in  our  ambitions  and  attain- 
ments with  regard  to  the  crowns  of  glory  and  blessedness. 
But  first  of  all  bear  in  mind  that  no  man  enters  upon  this  race 
until  he  has  perfect  certainty  of  his  own  salvation,  and  until 
he  has  attained  certain  preHminaries  in  the  Christian  life. 
Then,  and  then  only,  is  one  fitted  to  take  part  in  this  blessed 
struggle  for  the  crown  of  glory. 

In  the  first  place,  after  St.  Paul  has  said  that  we  may  win 
Christ,  he  continues  (Phil.  iii.  7,  8):  "What  things  were  gain 
to  me,  those  I  counted  loss  for  Christ.  Yea  doubtless,  and  I 
count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord."  He  says  that  he  did  count  them 
but  loss,  and  that  he  does  count  them  but  loss— and  he  has 
had  some  three  and  thirty  years  in  which  to  reckon  and  decide 


ONE  THING— ALL   THINGS  195 

whether  the  compensation  is  sufficient  to  make  up  for  the  loss 
of  things  which  he  formerly  counted  gain.  Like  St.  Paul,  we 
must  learn  to  count  all  things  but  loss  in  order  that  we  may 
gain  Christ.  This  is  the  starting-point  in  the  heavenly  career. 
I  say  this  dogmatically  because  our  blessed  Lord  and  Master, 
from  whom  St.  Paul  was  quoting,  says  (Luke  xiv.  26)  that 
unless  a  man  gives  up  all  that  he  has,  he  cannot  become  his 
disciple.  Christ  ran  the  heavenly  race,  and,  "  for  the  joy  that 
was  set  before  him,  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame." 
He  ran  with  patience  the  race  that  was  set  before  him.  He, 
too,  counted  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  and  he  says  that  no  man  can  come  after  him  in 
the  race,  no  man  can  hope  for  the  crowns  which  Jesus  won— 
it  must  be  first  the  cross  and  then  the  crown— until  he  has 
reckoned  it  worth  while  to  count  all  things  but  loss.  What 
are  we  to  reckon  loss  ?  Not  life  merely,  for  St.  Paul  never 
once  mentions  Hfe  in  this  passage ;  nor  does  he  mention  earthly 
status,  although  these  are  both  included.  Paul  was  a  man  in 
high  position ;  he  had  enjoyed  great  educational  advantages ; 
he  was  a  member  of  the  sanhedrim,  and  perhaps  had  been  a  man 
of  wealth.  But  all  these  things  he  considers  as  of  no  conse- 
quence. He  lays  them  aside  without  a  thought.  He  counts 
as  loss  his  reputation  as  a  Jew,  his  ecclesiastical  privileges,  his 
church  status— the  very  thing  that  hampers  so  many  Christian 
ministers  in  entering  upon  the  heavenly  course.  They  are 
hampered  not  by  money  or  by  earthly  pleasures  nearly  so 
much  as,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  they  are  hindered  by  their 
ecclesiastical  aspirations  and  dignities.  They  must  follow  the 
Aposde's  example  if  they  hope  for  the  crowns  of  glory  and 
honor.  Examine  yourselves  and  say  before  God  if  you  are 
prepared  to  give  up  everything  connected  with  your  ecclesi- 
astical dignity  and  your  church  status,  your  honors  and  high 
position  or  reputation  among  your  fellow-men  as  one  that  is 
highly  enlightened  in  religion.     Are  you  ready  to  give  up 


196  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

everything  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus  your  Lord? 

St.  Paul  goes  on  to  say,  in  the  second  place,  "  For  whom  I 
have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things."  He  speaks  here,  perhaps, 
of  earthly  influence.  He  looks  at  all  the  prospects  of  a  man 
in  his  earthly  position  and  says,  *'  I  count  them  but  dung,  that 
I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  him  "—that  is  his  desired 
position— "not  having  mine  own  righteousness:  .  .  .  that  I 
may  know  him  "—that  is  his  longed-for  privilege  — "and  the 
power  of  his  resurrection"— that  is  the  power;  not  the  power 
that  raised  Christ,  but  the  power  that  comes  to  us  from  his 
resurrection— "and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  being 
made  conformable  unto  his  death  "—that  is  the  coveted  friend- 
ship—" if  by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead  "—that  is  the  prospect.  Then  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  I 
count  not  myself  to  have  apprehended :  but  this  one  thing  I  do, 
I  set  aside  everything  in  order  that  I  may  take  hold  of  the 
ONE,  only  one,  and  I  press  toward  the  mark  "—that  is  his 
purpose  in  life.  Then  he  says  what  this  is  for :  "  for  the  prize 
of  the  high  caUing  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  "—that  is  the  ever- 
lasting prize  upon  which  his  heart  is  set.  Brethren,  is  the 
sacrifice  worth  while  ?  Remember,  before  we  decide  to  choose 
the  "  one  thing,"  that  we  must  have  given  up  the  others ;  all  our 
ecclesiastical  hopes  and  dignities,  all  our  earthly  comforts,  all 
that  makes  this  hfe  appear  so  enchanting  and  enticing,  must 
be  counted  as  loss  before  we  can  press  on  toward  the  mark. 
We  cannot  run  in  a  race  when  we  are  hampered  by  chains  or 
are  dragged  back  by  cumbersome  appurtenances.  How  can 
the  man  run  who  carries  upon  his  head  the  honors  of  this 
world?  He  is  top-heavy,  poor  fool!  You  cannot  run  well 
until  you  are  free.  Free  yourselves  now,  by  God's  help,  from 
the  things  that  have  hampered  you  hitherto,  and,  counting  the 
cost,  be  it  what  it  may,  say  before  God,  "  I  count  all  things 
but  dung,  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  him."   Now 


ONE  THING— ALL  THINGS  i97 

you  are  ready  to  enter  the  race ;  now  you  are  free ;  now  your 
limbs  are  oiled  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  whole  man  pre- 
pared to  run.  It  is  an  inspiring  sight  to  see  the  racers  toeing 
the  mark,  just  ready  to  start  from  the  tape-hne.  The  signal  is 
fired  and  they  are  off!  There  is  one  beautiful  circumstance 
about  the  heavenly  race  which  is  never  found  in  an  earthly 
contest.  In  an  earthly  race  a  man  must  outrun  his  competi- 
tors in  order  to  win  the  prize ;  his  whole  purpose  is  to  reach 
the  goal  in  front  of  them.  In  the  heavenly  race  we  secure  a 
prize  if,  while  we  run  with  our  eyes  fixed  on  the  Judge  at  the 
mark  before  us,  we  lend  a  helping  hand  to  our  neighbors  to 
lift  them  up  or  to  save  them  from  faUing.  That  is  the  way  to 
win  a  first-class  prize  in  the  Christian  contest. 

But  men  are  in  some  senses  essentially  selfish,  and  there- 
fore the  Lord,  who  knows  our  nature,  knew  that  there  must 
be  a  temporal  motive  for  all  this  sacrifice,  since  from  the 
time  that  sin  came  into  the  world  an  eternal  motive  has  not 
been  sufficient.  I  seldom  wonder  now  that  so  many  turn  away 
from  our  Christian  religion,  when  the  only  thing  that  we  pro- 
fess to  offer  them  is  something  beyond  the  grave.  If  we  can- 
not offer  a  man  something  of  present  value  he  is  not  likely  to 
turn  away  from  his  earthly  enjoyments,  which  present  them- 
selves directly  before  him.  Therefore  we  are  to  compete  with 
the  worldly  allurements  in  what  we  offer  to  young  people  of 
the  advantages  of  the  Christian  life.  If  we  stand  before  them 
and  say  that  they  must  be  prepared  to  drop  every  earthly 
attraction,  every  dignity  and  honor  which  hinders  the  soul,  I 
do  not  wonder  that  they  say  at  once,  "  I  do  not  care  for  the 
kind  of  gospel  that  you  offer ;  I  want  something  notuy 

Now  let  us  see  whether  or  not  the  man  of  God  has  the  best 
of  the  bargain  when  he  secures  what  St.  Paul  secured  by  count- 
ing all  things  but  loss.  The  next  of  my  **  all  things  "  is  found 
in  the  twenty-first  verse  of  the  third  chapter.  The  Apostle, 
looking  forward  to  the  glorification  of  the  body,  says  (Phil.  iii. 


198  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

2 1 )  that  he  counts  himself  wise  in  keeping  his  conversation  in 
heaven,  for  if  his  citizenship  is  in  heaven,  his  final  reward  will 
be  that  his  "body  of  humihation  shall  be  changed  into  the 
body  of  his  glory,  according  to  the  mighty  working  whereby  he 
is  able  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself."  That  is  the  pros- 
pect for  eternity.  But  there  is  in  that  prospect  for  eternity  a 
beginning  of  present  enjoyment.  I  suppose  that  no  man  who 
has  yielded  himself  wholly  to  this  world  as  the  object  of  his 
ambition  and  hope  ever  declared  himself  to  be  absolutely  sat- 
isfied. On  the  contrary,  the  man  who  follows  St.  Paul,  and 
gives  up  all  things  for  the  sake  of  the  one,  finds  with  St.  Paul 
that  this  is  the  starting-point  to  all  true  rest  and  blessedness. 
The  only  way,  indeed,  in  which  a  man  can  hope  to  reach  calm, 
quiet  enjoyment  is  to  be  able  to  put  all  his  possibilities  and 
privileges,  ecclesiastical,  civil,  and  social,  into  the  hands  of 
One  who  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself.  Men  of 
passion,  women  of  fashion,  say  where  you  will  find  any  rest 
for  your  souls  until  you  place  them  in  the  hands  of  Him  who 
is  able  to  subdue?  Lust,  temper,  impulses,  all  that  is  naughty, 
all  that  is  haughty,  all  that  is  bitter,  all  that  is  painful,  is  placed 
in  the  hands  of  One— Jesus  our  Lord— who,  even  before  he 
takes  this  body  of  humiliation  and  translates  it  into  the  body 
of  his  glory,  is  able— and  we  find  it  true— to  subdue  all  things 
unto  himself. 

Again  St.  Paul  testifies  to  the  blessings  of  this  consecrated 
Hfe,  saying,  '*  In  everything  and  in  all  things  have  I  learned 
the  secret"  (Phil.  iv.  12,  R.  V.).  Hdivt you  learned  the  secret, 
my  brother?  What  is  it?  "  Both  to  be  filled  and  to  be  hun- 
gry, both  to  abound  and  to  be  in  want  "—the  secret  of  perfect 
contentment.  There  sat  the  aged  Apostle,  bound  by  a  chain 
to  a  brutal  Roman  soldier.  Any  day  might  be  his  last ;  that 
tyrant,  Nero,  might  at  any  moment  order  his  head  to  be  cut 
off,  or  that  he  be  thrown  into  the  Tiber,  or  given  to  the  hons. 
St.  Paul  had  nothing  but  the  comforts  of  a  miserable  Roman 


ONE  THING— ALL   THINGS  199 

prisoner.  Apparently  at  times  he  had  not  even  a  friend  to 
visit  him,  but  now  and  then  there  came  one  who  gave  him 
some  httle  gift,  Kke  that  which  Epaphroditus  brought  him. 
And  yet  with  the  galHng  chain  that  is  fastened  to  his  wrist, 
with  the  prospect  of  a  martyr's  death  staring  him  in  the  face, 
and  in  despair  of  any  human  influence,  this  man  takes  up  his 
pen  and  writes,  *'  In  everything  and  in  all  things  have  I  learned 
the  secret."  Blessed  initiation  into  the  mysteries  of  the  king- 
dom, to  learn  the  secret  of  a  Paul  so  as  to  be  able  to  say, ''  No 
matter  what  my  Lord  may  choose  to  lay  upon  me,  though  I 
be  bound  with  cruel  chains,  and  even  with  the  danger  of  star- 
vation or  martyrdom  staring  me  in  the  face,  I  can  say  with  such 
a  one  as  Paul  the  aged,  now  also  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ, 
that  '  I  have  learned  the  secret  both  to  be  filled  and  to  be 
hungry,  both  to  abound  and  to  be  in  want.' "  When  a  man 
gives  up  only  one  thing  in  his  Hfe  he  begins  to  be  repaid  a 
litde,  does  he  not,  when  in  place  of  that  little  one  thing  he  gains 
all  things?     That  is  the  secret. 

After  you  have  learned  the  secret  of  absolute  contentment 
in  everything,  you  come  to  the  next  step  (Phil.  iv.  13):  "I 
can  do  all  things  "  (or,  as  the  Greek  means,  "  I  am  all-prevail- 
ing") "through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me."  Beautiful 
text!  Here  he  has  all  power,  the  very  thing  that  St.  Paul 
asked  for  when  he  said  that  he  gave  up  all  things  (Phil.  iii.  10). 
A  great  Methodist  preacher  in  Manchester,  England,  once 
stood  up  in  his  pulpit  and  announced  this  text— Phil.  iv.  13. 
He  began  to  read  the  words  solemnly  and  in  very  measured 
tones :  *"  I  can  do  all  things  '—Paul,"  he  said,  "  you  are  a  liar. 
*I  can  do  all  things'— Paul,  thou  art  a  terrible  liar.  Oh,  I 
beg  your  pardon,  Paul,  I  see  it  now— 'through  Christ  which 
strengtheneth  me.'  That  is  quite  another  thing ;  Paul,  you  are 
quite  right,  you  are  quite  right — *  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  which  strengtheneth  me.'  "  This  is  a  secret  worth  learn- 
ing, even  if  a  man  must  be  shut  up  in  a  prison,  and  must  have 


20O  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

a  galling  chain  on  his  wrist  in  order  to  learn  it.  I  do  not  kno\v 
that  every  one  could  say  it,  but  the  one  thing  is  worth  the  all. 

Now,  lastly,  the  Apostle,  this  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  says 
(Phil.  iv.  1 8),  "I  have  all  things,  and  abound."  Wonderful 
Paul— all-contented,  all-prevaihng,  all-abounding!  A  prisoner 
in  chains  with  only  one  shirt  on  his  back ;  bound  to  a  brutal 
Roman  soldier,  and  with  none  of  the  comforts  of  this  Hfe; 
having  simply  a  crust  of  bread  and  a  cup  of  water,  and  yet 
able  to  say,  ''  I  have  all  things,  and  abound." 

Brethren,  you  have  to  count  the  cost  and  to  make  the  de- 
cision. The  option  is  yours,  the  prospect  is  before  you,  the 
privilege  is  open  to  you,  the  demand  is  upon  you ;  you  must 
settle  it  with  God,  and  God  alone  will  know  whether  your 
heart  is  right  in  its  decision.  Will  you  by  the  grace  of  God 
recognize  henceforth  that  in  taking  Christ  you  take  a  suffi- 
ciency for  everything?  It  is  not  to  be  by  any  human  energy 
or  purpose  that  you  say,  "  I  will  enter  the  race  and  win  those 
crowns."  A  man  never  won  a  crown  at  the  hand  of  God  by 
human  effort ;  the  crown  is  not  to  be  won  except  in  the  strength 
of  the  work  and  sufferings  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  heart,  the 
soul,  the  very  being,  must  be  yielded  to  Christ ;  the  victory  is 
won  by  the  obliteration  of  self,  that  Christ  may  be  all  and  in 
all.  A  man  is  light  enough  to  run  for  the  crown  only  because 
he  has  cast  away  everything  that  may  hamper  him.  A  man 
"  in  training  "  does  everything  to  get  rid  of  superfluities,  and  to 
"keep  the  body  under."  My  brethren,  we  only  need  to  get 
rid  of  the  things  which  hinder ;  then  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will 
take  possession,  and  will  enable  us  to  win  the  crown.  "  Not 
as  though  I  had  already  attained,  either  were  already  per- 
fected"—even  a  Paul  admits  that;  and  when  men  talk  about 
being  perfected  or  having  lost  the  root  of  sin,  they  are  terribly 
deceived.  We  must  simply  take  the  perfect  Christ  and  say, 
"  One  thing,  one  thing."  No  man  excels  who  tries  to  excel  in 
twenty  things.     We  must  be  determined  that  in  one  thing 


OhIE   THING— ALL   THINGS  20i 

we  will  win  the  prize  by  the  grace  of  God  working  through  us. 
Give  up  ALL.  Do  not  mourn  over  it,  do  not  whine  about  it, 
do  not  weep  before  the  world  as  if  you  thought  that  you  were 
making  such  a  sacrifice  as  to  deserve  peculiar  praise  or  pity 
from  those  who  are  around  you.  That  is  what  makes  men 
turn  away  from  the  gospel.  They  see  Christians  sneaking 
toward  the  things  of  the  world,  as  well  as  sneaking  into  heaven, 
and  they  know  that  professing  Christians  would  too  often  very 
much  like  to  enter  into  worldly  pleasures.  Let  them  see  that, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  you  can  say,  "  I  can  have  all  things ;  but 
I  count  them  all  but  dung,  simply  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
simply  for  the  sake  of  Christ." 

Now  what  is  this  one  thing  for  which  we  give  up  all  things, 
and  through  which  we  gain  all  things  ?  I  answer,  Christ, 
Christ,  Christ.  Is  he  worth  it?  Go  to  a  graveyard  and  do 
what  I  knew  a  little  boy  to  do.  He  went  out  after  hearing  a 
solemn  sermon,  and  began  to  measure  his  length  on  the  graves. 
He  very  soon  found  that  more  than  half  of  them  were  shorter 
than  his  own  Httle  body,  and  he  came  out  of  the  graveyard  say- 
ing, "  Then  it  is  quite  clear  that  I  am  old  enough  to  die."  Yes, 
and  it  is  quite  clear  that  you  are  old  enough  to  die  soo/i.  With 
the  thought  of  death  coming  immediately,  or  Christ  appearing 
suddenly — would  that  the  day  were  at  hand— you  must  calcu- 
late and  decide  whether  or  not  you  will  say,  "  I  have  counted 
the  cost,  God  knows  that  I  have  considered  it  well,  and 
henceforth  and  forever  I  will  have  '  but  one '  purpose,  one 
Lord ;  and  then  I  shall  have  everlasting  blessedness  with  my 
Lord  and  Saviour  Christ  throughout  eternity."  Close  the  com- 
pact by  saying  truly  and  fervently : 

**  Now  to  be  Thine,  yea,  Thine  alone, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come." 

Say  before  God,  "  I  do  count  all  things  but  loss,  I  do  indeed, 
I  give  them  all  up  now,  everything,  everything,  to  be  Christ's 


202  THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE 

and  Christ's  only,  because  he  gave  himself  for  me  and  to  be  mine 
forever.  Mine  forever,  and  I  am  thine  forever.  God  help 
me."  It  will  be  a  holy  act,  and  not  done  hghtly.  Just  seal 
the  compact.  You  will  not  obtain  a  blessing  because  of  any- 
thing you  do,  but  what  you  do  may  help  you  to  receive  it. 
You  must  have  only  one  thing  before  you— one— you  cannot 
have  two.  Husband  or  wife,  money-bag  or  home  or  child, 
must  not  come  between,  you  and  Christ.  No  half-hearted  con- 
secration will  do.  If  you  are  halting  betwixt  two  opinions, 
think,  think  and  pray,  and  then  remember  that  if  you  once 
commit  yourself  to  the  Lord,  he  is  able  to  subdue  that— what? 
That  awful  sin.  Able  to  subdue.  Are  you  given  to  grumbling? 
You  will  learn  the  secret  of  contentment  under  all  circum- 
stances. Are  you  afraid  that  you  will  starve  or  suffer  want? 
You  will  learn  to  say,  "  I  have  all,  and  abound." 

I  would  dare  to  close  with  the  beautiful  words  of  the  nine- 
teenth verse,  in  which  we  read,  as  if  in  answer  to  all  objec- 
tions, "But  my  God"— I  know  him,  I  can  trust  him,  says 
Paul,  and  I  tell  you  that  he  is  worth  it ;  I  speak  out  of  a  long 
experience—"  my  God  shall  "—no  doubt  about  it— "^/^^//?sup- 
ply  all  your  needs."  How  far?— "according  to  his  riches  in 
glory"— not  according  to  your  needs,  not  according  to 
your  begging,  not  according  to  your  cry ;  no—"  according  to 
his  riches  in  glory  in  Christ  Jesus." 


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1      1 


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